During a rain-soaked 90 minutes in SW6, both sides created goalscoring opportunities across the 90 minutes. Cole Palmer forced Antonin Kinsky into a good first-half save, and Jordan Henderson, Morgan Rogers and Pedro Neto were also denied by the Tottenham goalkeeper.

Mike Penders made good stops of his own, first to deny Omar Marmoush and then Mathys Tel. However, with 13 minutes remaining, Tottenham forced a Penders own goal from a corner and, after Palmer was dismissed for two yellow cards, Tel struck late on to seal a rare Spurs' victory at Stamford Bridge.

Alonso was honest in his post-match assessment, acknowledging the performance was not at the level the Blues had displayed in our back-to-back wins over Bournemouth and Everton.

‘We all take the blame for the result and for the performance,' he said. 'Today we were not at our best. I felt that in the second half, the game was even and could have gone either way. Once we conceded that first goal, and then with the red card, it was difficult.'

The Blues manager continued: 'In the second half, it was tight, with some half-chances for them and half-chances for us. It was about taking a moment and once we conceded the first goal, it conceded everything. Then, when we wanted to have a reaction, we got the red card. Then it went the other way.

'We can do better. It's one to reflect after this big game that it was against a good opponent. And the performance, it's one to improve.'

The Blues' preparation for the game was disrupted with Joao Pedro sustaining an injury in training on the eve of Tottenham's visit. And Alonso said the absence of the Brazilian forward did mean a late change to the game plan was needed.

He said: 'We had to take many decisions in a short time. What we had been working on in the week, you need to be flexible and adapt. So it changed the idea we had a little bit, but this is football, and it can happen.

'It’s no secret that with Joao we are better, but it’s not about talking about the players missing. It’s about the players who were on the pitch. We can do better and we have to be critical of ourselves.'