On the surface, this was a potentially damaging night for Tottenham, with consequences far beyond the end of their unbeaten run and a 4-1 defeat to one of their biggest rivals inflicted by Mauricio Pochettino.
Spurs will be without Cristian Romero for the next three games and Destiny Udogie for Saturday's visit to Wolves after both defenders were sent off, while Micky van de Ven is surely facing a far longer spell out of the side after pulling up with a serious-looking hamstring injury.
A makeshift defence beckons for at least three matches, including the visit to Manchester City on December 3.
All at once, Spurs' luck appeared to run out and many of their calculated gambles backfired, specifically the squad's lack of cover at centre-half and for James Maddison, who was also forced off in the first half with an ankle complaint.
And yet, in spite of the result, the injuries and the suspensions, the most chaotic and controversy-packed game of the Premier League's VAR era was an oddly uplifting occasion for Spurs.
It felt like the night when the club truly came to belong to Ange Postecoglou, and it may prove as galvanising as it was damaging.
The way Spurs battled with nine men, stuck bravely to their head coach's high-risk approach and kept the crowd fully onside made it feel like a moral victory and suggests the whole club -- from dressing room to terraces -- has fully bought into Postecoglou's approach.
When Nicolas Jackson's second of three goals made it 3-1 to Chelsea deep into stoppage-time, the home supporters greeted the killer blow by standing to applaud their team's efforts.
It was quite a moment and more meaningful than the loss of key players or Chelsea returning to west London with the bragging rights.
Players will always miss games and teams will always suffer bad results, but having a club this energised and unified is hugely significant.
For Postecoglou, most encouraging was the way his players committed steadfastly to his high defensive line even with a two-man deficit; he has said that the type of football his teams play when their backs are against the wall shows who they really are, and plainly, after just 13 games, the entire Spurs squad is fully committed to Angeball.
Admittedly, Jackson was able to walk in one of the simplest of hat-tricks but at, 2-1 up, Chelsea looked like a side who did not know how to win the game, even with two extra men.
Eric Dier, who was outstanding on his first minutes of the season, thought he had scored a spectacular equaliser -- one of five disallowed goals in the game -- while Heung-min Son and Rodrigo Bentancur both missed fine chances to level the score.
If there was a concern for Postecoglou, aside from the injuries and suspensions, however, it was the way his side played at 1-0 after Dejan Kulusevski's deflected strike had given them the perfect start.
The hosts immediately looked skittish and Jackson should have levelled quickly following Pedro Porro's mistake, only for Guglielmo Vicario, who was phenomenal, to deny the striker with the first of several outstanding saves.
Son then had the ball in the net -- the first of four goals ruled out for tight offsides -- to make it 2-0 and, at that point, Spurs appeared to be cruising back to the top of the table and piling the pressure on Pochettino.
But they naively lost control of their emotions and, with them, the game, allowing the contest to become a scrap with an energy reminiscent of Pochettino's most infamous night in this fixture, the Battle of the Bridge in May 2016.
Udogie and Romero were both lucky to avoid red cards before they were eventually dismissed either side of half-time, and the Argentine -- who was named as one of Postecoglou's vice-captains in the summer -- was particularly guilty of losing his head.
His reckless follow-through on Enzo Fernandez earned Chelsea a penalty, from which Cole Palmer equalised, and turned the game on its head.
Romero cost his team but he was not alone in appearing naive and rash; Spurs may be Postecoglou's team but they remain a long way from the finished product.
It may also prove a significant night for Chelsea and Pochettino, although it was the Argentine who looked the most agitated of the two managers as the clock wound down, exchanging heated words with Thiago Silva after Chelsea's third goal -- which came seconds after Son nearly made it 2-2.
Pochettino can reflect that his own young team handled the occasion better than Spurs and they fully deserved to level the score in the first half, despite being so jittery when they finally took the lead.
This result may accelerate Pochettino's own process of making his club his own and potentially prove a turning point in his tenure.
For different reasons, the same could be true for Spurs, particularly if their form hit the rocks without key players, but Postecoglou can be reassured that he has quickly made an indelible imprint on this club.
