Cole Palmer scored twice from the penalty spot as Chelsea overturned a two-goal deficit after 11 minutes to beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 in a frenetic London derby and close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.

Two comical slips from Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella meant Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski gave the hosts a dream start, but their joy turned to despair as the visitors showed why they should be considered title contenders.

Jadon Sancho fired in a shot after 17 minutes to give Chelsea momentum and Palmer equalized from the penalty spot just after the hour mark, leaving Chelsea to dominate the second period.

Enzo Fernández fired a shot into the goal to give Chelsea the lead, and Palmer tied it with his second penalty at the end before Son Heung-Min scored a consolation goal in stoppage time.

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

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Chelsea are in second place with 31 points from 15 games, four points behind Liverpool, whose game against Everton was postponed due to strong winds on Saturday.

Tottenham’s second defeat of the week left them in 11th place with 20 points and increased pressure on coach Ange Postecoglou, whose cause was not helped by the early injury absence of central defender Cristian Romero.

“It’s definitely painful, it hurts. We started the game really well and then we lose Cristian Romero and we had to regroup,” the Australian, whose side have lost twice this season after leading 2-0, told Sky Sports.

“The dynamics changed pretty quickly.”

Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca has downplayed the title chances of his lavishly assembled side, who are now unbeaten in seven games and have won their last four Premier League games. They are also the division’s top scorers with 35 goals and have a player at the peak of his powers in Palmer.

Since moving from Manchester City, he now has 50 goal involvements (33 goals and 17 assists) in 48 Premier League games for the London club.

“In the first 10 or 15 minutes we conceded two easy goals, but overall we had control of the game,” Maresca said. “The reaction from the players was mentally strong both on and off the ball.”

Things looked bleak for the visitors at the start, with a reeling Cucurella twice left red-faced.

He lost his footing in the fifth minute and Brennan Johnson played the ball into the box when Solanke produced a poaching finish to give his side the lead.

Minutes later the exact same thing happened, this time the Spaniard slipped and watched in horror as the ball was finally played to Kulusevski, who ran across the penalty area and then fired a precise shot past Robert Sánchez.

Cucurella went off to change his shoes and his team’s fortunes quickly changed when Sancho fired a wonderful shot off the post after a rapid diagonal run.

Chelsea were perhaps lucky not to be down to ten men when Moisés Caicedo Pape Matar put Sarr through and Sarr headed a cross into the woodwork shortly afterwards.

Tottenham retained their lead in the second half, but a reckless foul by Yves Bissouma on Caicedo led to a clear penalty and Palmer beat Fraser Forster.

The hosts briefly recovered, Son went close, but Fernandez gave Chelsea the lead with a volley in the 73rd minute after a crazy dribble from the unstoppable Palmer.

Palmer then capped a great afternoon when he was brought down by Sarr and converted an audacious ‘Panenka’ penalty.

Son’s appearance was of little consolation for Tottenham, as Romero’s defense partner Micky van de Ven was also unavailable due to injury towards the end of the game.