Tottenham Hotspur lost 1-4 to Chelsea in the 11th round of the 2023/24 English Premier League (PL) season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, on April 7 (ET).

Tottenham opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation. Son Heung-min started up front, followed by Brannon Johnson, James Maddison, and Dejan Kuluczewski in the second line. Pape Sarr-Yves Bissouma partnered in the middle. The back four was Destiny Udoji, Mickey van der Penn, Christian Romero, and Pedro Foro. Guglielmo Vicario was in goal.

Tottenham took an early lead. In the fifth minute, Kuluczewski’s shot deflected off Colewill and into the net. In the 13th minute, Son Heung-min rattled the Chelsea net despite being offside and it looked like Spurs were going to win.

An unexpected twist occurred. In the 28th minute, Romero made a hard tackle on Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez and was shown a red card after video review. Nine minutes into the second half, another red card was shown. Udoji was sent off for a harsh tackle on Sterling, accumulating cautions.

Tottenham played around 45 minutes of added time with two men down. Unsurprisingly, the victory was hard to come by, with Chelsea’s Nicola Jackson scoring a hat-trick in a 1-4 reverse.

Even in defeat, Vicario shone. In the 10th minute, he stopped Jackson’s shot from inside the penalty box after a mistake by Foro.

He was even better in the second half. In the 12th minute, he found himself one-on-one with Jackson and blocked his shot, then saved Palmer’s second effort. In the 14th and 18th minutes, he rose high to make clearances.레모나토토 도메인

In the 22nd minute, Cucurella had a chance in front of goal after breaking into the box, but again Vicario was there to make the save. Despite conceding four goals, they were all open chances that Vicario was virtually unable to stop.

After the game, local media highlighted Vicario’s performance. “He saved Jackson’s shot early on. He made a number of saves in the second half, including one from Cucurella. There was nothing he could do about the goal. He was excellent” and gave him a rating of 8.

British outlet 90min said: “He made the best save of the game. He was the last line of defense in the second half,” and gave him an 8.

Yoris has been Tottenham’s first-choice goalkeeper for years. Since joining the club in 2012, he has made 447 appearances in a Spurs shirt. 361 of them in the English Premier League alone.

Recently, his form has been declining. He lost his place to Fraser Forster late last season due to a combination of injuries. Tottenham were also looking for a new goalkeeper in the transfer market.

That’s how Vicario joined the team. Vicario played for Empoli in Italy last season, keeping seven clean sheets in 32 games.

He’s been in a Tottenham shirt this season, but hasn’t needed an adjustment period. He has conceded nine goals and kept four clean sheets in 10 PL appearances before this game.

Spurs paid just €19 million ($265 million) for Vicario. A top European goalkeeper at a bargain price. Vicario’s performance was the only silver lining in a crushing defeat.