Saves Terriers
Cesar Azpilicueta nodded down but somehow Antonio Rudiger stabbed wide from six yards.
Then Fabregas floated in a looping cross from the right, which Morata met with a first-time volley but again Lossl was in the way.
Huddersfield were having little of the ball, with nine men back most of the time, and they were proving difficult for Chelsea to break down.
After Huddersfield had weathered the initial storm, Wagner’s Terriers settled. Without Hazard, Chelsea seemed to lack that vital spark, though Willian’s trickery and pace did offer hope.
Then N’Golo Kante put Morata clean through but Lossl dashed out and forced the Spaniard wide and no one could reach his low ball across the face of goal. Huddersfield the prospect of securing four points from the final two games to keep their European destiny in their own hands was beginning to look like a challenging one.
Newcastle, three defeats on the bounce since effectively seeing themselves safe by beating Arsenal, should have been there for the taking and yet in the first half something was not right. Increasingly it was becoming clear what that something was - Kane himself.
Set-pieces had been the order of the day. Christian Eriksen forcing a good save had failed to score in 20 of their 36 league games before last night but they stunned Chelsea after the break.
Christopher Schindler’s tackle felled Willian as he raced through and Aaron Mooy picked up the loose ball and hoofed it forward.
Chelsea reserve goalkeeper Willy Caballero should have dealt with it but Depoitre got there first, knocked the ball past him, and scored simply into the empty net. It was a catastrophe of a goal.
The crowd called for Hazard and eventually Conte threw him on. Five minutes later, Chelsea were level from another comedy goal.
Azpilicueta crossed from the right and as Mathias Jorgensen tried to clear, the ball flew up and struck Alonso in the face and then from Martin Dubravka with his; Jonjo Shelvey clipping the outside of the post with one of his own.
Then just before halftime, Wembley held its breath. It was not pretty – a huge lump forward from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris - but the ball was arcing through the air and about to land on the instep of Kane barely 15 yards from goal.
Except it did not. Though the England striker swung his boot, it barely clipped the outside of his foot, a complete miskick which zipped past keeper Lossl and into the net.
But as the news filtered through that Tottenham were leading against Newcastle at Wembley, the Chelsea crowd knew that was not enough. They needed a winner.
But as Lossl pulled off a brilliant save from Andreas Christensen’s header, and the Terriers somehow, incredibly, with some desperate goal-line scrambles and bodies thrown in the way of the ball time and again, held out. Lossl, unbeatable all night, pushed away bounced into the arms of Dubravka. Things just were not going right for Kane and Tottenham looked like stuttering into port. Even with news at half-time that Huddersfield had taken an unlikely lead against Chelsea, there was a growing unease around the stadium that this was going to become another of those years. Then, right on 50 minutes, the world could not have clicked more properly into place again if it had been grateful Hazard’s drive in the frantic finale. Huddersfield were safe. For Chelsea now, there is only the FA Cup. Not much of a finale for what might be Conte’s last game at the Bridge.
CHELSEA Goal: HUDDERSFIELD
P W D L F A PTS MAN CITY (C) 37 31 4 2 105 27 97 MAN UTD 36 24 5 7 67 28 77 TOTTENHAM 37 22 8 7 69 32 74 LIVERPOOL 37 20 12 5 80 38 72 CHELSEA 37 21 7 9 62 35 70 ARSENAL 37 18 6 13 73 51 60 BURNLEY 37 14 12 11 35 37 54 EVERTON 37 13 10 14 43 55 49 LEICESTER 37 12 11 14 52 55 47 NEWCASTLE 37 11 8 18 36 47 41 C PALACE 37 10 11 16 43 55 41 BOURNEMOUTH 37 10 11 16 43 60 41 WATFORD 37 11 8 18 44 63 41 BRIGHTON 37 9 13 15 34 50 40 WEST HAM 36 9 11 16 45 67 38 HUDDERSFIELD 37 9 10 18 28 57 37 SOUTHAMPTON 37 7 15 15 37 55 36 SWANSEA 37 8 9 20 27 54 33 WEST BROM (R) 37 6 13 18 31 54 31 STOKE (R) 37 6 12 19 33 67 30 accompanied by a record scratch sound effect.
Kane knocked the ball to Son Heung-Min, the South Korea international dabbed it back and majestically, from just inside the area, Kane swept the ball into the back of the net.
Wembley roared and the punch of the air from the Spurs talisman was one of relief as much as of delight .
Newcastle still had chances and Ayoze Perez miskicked even worse than Kane with the goal at his mercy. It was a more surefooted Tottenham who continued to press, although within a minute of coming
(3-4-3): Booked: REMAINING GAME: (5-3-2): Goal: GAME:
on, Magpies substitute Jacob Murphy cut inside and should have found the target from the edge of the six-yard area.
It may not have been convincing from Tottenham, but it was enough.
TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1):
Goal: REMAINING GAME: NEWCASTLE (4-2-3-1): Booked: REMAINING Booked: