Pochettino’s side walked away with a huge win on Monday night (Picture: Getty)
Mauricio Pochettino has conceded Chelsea reaped the rewards of playing against a Tottenham side who took huge risks in their London derby defeat.
The Blues sealed a 4-1 win on a chaotic Monday night in north London where the hosts saw two men sent off with five goals disallowed between the two sides.
Cristian Romero was shown a straight red for his challenge on Enzo Fernandez with Cole Palmer scoring the resulting penalty to level the game.
Destiny Udogie, lucky to not be sent off for his two-footed first-half challenge on Raheem Sterling, was shown a second yellow card early in the second-half.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Tottenham persisted with a high defensive line that has been so successful during Ange Postecoglou’s start to life at the club and battled valiantly, even after Nicolas Jackson gave the hosts the lead in the 75th minute.
Spurs finally crumbled in injury time with Jackson scoring twice more to seal his hat-trick.
Postecoglou defiantly defended his tactics at full-time, insisting he will never change his attacking philosophy. Pochettino praised his counterpart’s approach but insisted winning points was more important for his side.
Spurs had two men sent off on a chaotic evening (Picture: Getty)
Asked in his post-match press conference whether he was surprised by Tottenham’s ultra highline, he said: ‘You can take a risk and then [have] nothing to lose because you are on the top of the table, full confidence and you take risks.
‘But I think on the end we got what we wanted and in the end it is 1-4. We played really well from the beginning of the season, we deserve more but in the end, if you see the table, we are in the middle.
‘Yes, you can play well, you can take a risk, but in the end it’s about winning points.
‘For us, it was really important today and to come here to Tottenham and win the game against a team I think that was playing really well.
‘I think it’s important and it is three points for us to build our confidence and start to push up the table.’
Chelsea climb to 10th place in the table with just their fourth win of the season. Spurs meanwhile remain second having been leapfrogged by Manchester City over the weekend.
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Spurs kept their high defensive line despite two sending offs.