By Victor Kanayo
Harry Kane scored an equaliser six minutes into stoppage time, and that earned Tottenham a dramatic draw as a fiery London derby at Stamford Bridge ended in an angry confrontation between Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte that resulted in red cards for both managers.
Tempers were running high throughout as Chelsea twice led before Kane’s glancing header seconds from the end gave Spurs a point.
Chelsea dominated the first half and fully deserved the 19th minute lead they earned when their two summer signings combined, Kalidou Koulibaly flashing home a powerful volley from Marc Cucurella’s corner.
Spurs struggled to make any sort of impression, Kane missing their best opportunity, but drew level after 68 minutes when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s shot beat Edouard Mendy.
Chelsea were furious that referee Anthony Taylor had failed to penalise Rodrigo Bentancur for a challenge on Kai Havertz, the ensuing melee leading to a face-to-face fury between the two managers which ended with both receiving yellow cards.
Once order had been restored, Chelsea were back in front as James scored from Raheem Sterling’s pass, the fired up Tuchel celebrating by sprinting past Conte along the touchline in elation.
Chelsea thought they had made it six points from two games until Kane headed in Ivan Perisic’s corner – the antipathy not ending there as a handshake between Tuchel and Conte developed into another bust-up between the pair which ended with them both getting their marching orders.
Earlier, Nottingham Forest recorded their first victory of the new English Premier League season as the City Ground hosted top-flight soccer for the first time since 1999, after Nigerian international Taiwo Awoniyi debut over West Ham United on Sunday.
Awoniyi scored Forest’s first Premier League goal in 23 years in the first half stoppage time and it proved to be the difference as both teams had goals disallowed by VAR and West Ham captain Declan Rice had a second-half penalty saved.
“I’m really happy about it because it took me a long journey to get back to the Premier League and I’m very, very proud of myself,” said Awoniyi, who was at Liverpool from 2015-21 but did not make a competitive appearance and was loaned out several times.
“It was a dream for me to score and for the team to win… I believe we will have a great season.”
Steve Cooper’s side had been outclassed by Newcastle United during their 2-0 defeat on the opening day, but looked at home in the top flight against West Ham, who were also looking to bounce back from a 2-0 loss to champions Manchester City.
