Ange Postecoglou unbeaten run ends on chaotic night as Tottenham suffer first EPL defeat under ex-Celtic boss

Ange Postecoglou has been beaten in the Premier League for the first time as Spurs manager after a chaotic 4-1 defeat to Chelsea at the Tottenham Hostpur Stadium.

Ange Postecoglou acknowledges the Spurs fans following the team's defeat to Chelsea. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

The home side were reduced to nine men, lost two defenders to injury, and yet still came close to salvaging an unlikely point in a remarkable match that also included five disallowed goals and several VAR delays that resulted in a total of 21 minutes added time across both halves.

The defeat brought an end to Tottenham's unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign, which had included eight wins and two draws, and also halted Postecoglou’s 52-game unbeaten home record which stretches back across his entire Celtic tenure and into his time in charge of Yokohama F.Marinos.

A hat-trick from Nicolas Jackson did the damage to ensure Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino enjoyed a successful return to Tottenham.

Dejan Kulusevski fired Postecoglou’s team in front during a 57-minute first half, where Cristian Romero earned a straight red card and Cole Palmer netted from the resulting penalty.

Tottenham also lost Micky van de Ven and James Maddison to injuries, while three goals were disallowed with video assistant referee John Brooks a busy man.

Spurs were reduced to nine men soon after half-time when Destiny Udogie was dismissed and the visitors’ numerical advantage finally told when Jackson slotted home in the 75th minute before he completed his treble with two stoppage-time strikes to bring an action-packed London derby to an end.

Postecoglou accepted the decisions for both red cards and the penalty but bemoaned the delays caused by VAR.

“Decisions are decisions, you either accept it or you don’t,” he told Sky Sports. “Some of it is self-inflicted (but) if we are going to go out and complain about bad decisions every week what will happen is what happened today – a forensic study of every decision.

“I think that’s the way the game is going. I don’t like it – I could be a lone voice as I’m told that’s the way forward. With VAR intervention it just felt like a lot of standing around.

“At some point we have to accept the referee’s decision. This constant erosion of referees’ authority this is what the game is going to get. They will not have any authority, it is going to get diminished and we are going to be in the control of someone a few miles away watching a TV screen.”