Tottenham beat Chelsea to pile more pressure on Graham Potter

Tottenham Hotspur boosted their Premier League top-four hopes with a 2-0 victory over rivals Chelsea on Sunday to pile more pressure on Blues manager Graham Potter.

Second-half goals from midfielder Oliver Skipp, one minute after the break, and striker Harry Kane, eight minutes from time, earned Spurs a deserved win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The victory opens up a four-point lead on Newcastle United in the last of the Champions League places, albeit they have played two games more.

The result leaves Chelsea languishing in 10th place, 14 points behind Tottenham, and continues a miserable run of form that has now been extended to one win in their past 11 matches in all competitions. It was also a third straight defeat without scoring a goal and the Blues are closer to the relegation zone, with 10 points separating them from 18th-placed Everton, than the top four.

“Overall, we were happy enough with our performance and then the start of the second half has made it really difficult for us," Potter said. "We huffed and puffed without doing enough to score but overall it is a disappointing loss for us."

Having spent more than £500 million ($600m) on players this season and the inevitable challenge of getting a new team to click, there is some sympathy for the position Potter finds himself in. But the lack of progress amid a prolonged downturn in form and little evidence to suggest that the team will soon turn a corner, mean concerns must be growing.

To compound the problems, Thiago Silva, Chelsea's leading central defender who has been consistently excellent this season, went off injured in the 19th minute.

"You can feel the desire of the players to turn results around," Potter said, "but sometimes you go through moments