Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur: Premier League match report
By Matthew Stanger
Tottenham arrived at Stamford Bridge looking to settle a score but left with a familiar sense of frustration as Chelsea came from behind to win 2-1 and leapfrog Liverpool at the top of the table.
Spurs’s revenge mission began with the dead-eyed determination of Oldboy but slipped away in the hapless fashion of the crooks in Home Alone 2. If this was the first match Danny Rose and his team-mates looked for when the fixture list was announced in the summer, it will be the last they want to remember after Spurs finally said a belated farewell to their unbeaten start in the Premier League.
Despite their questionable performances of late - winning only once in the last nine matches in all competitions - Spurs started strongly in the first half. They quickly found their rhythm, taking the game to a Chelsea side on a run of six successive victories without conceding a goal. That remarkable defensive record was brought to an end with just 11 minutes on the clock, when Christian Eriksen slammed the ball past Thibaut Courtois for the first time in over 600 minutes.
It was the reward Spurs’s bright start deserved, and they looked capable of extending their lead as Chelsea struggled to cope with the visitors’ neat attacking interplay or break through the midfield wall of Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama. A sharp shot from Harry Kane stung the palms of Courtois on the half-hour mark, followed by a moment that summed up the hosts’ hesitancy. As Cesar Azpilicueta collected a Spurs clearance near the halfway line, with every outfield teammate ahead of him, the full-back elected to turn back towards goal, drawing a collective groan from the crowd.
Before the game, Mauricio Pochettino had emphasised the importance of mental strength to his players, something that was lacking in their collapse at the end of last season - particularly in May’s ‘Battle of the Bridge’ - and anaemic displays in the Champions League that resulted in elimination against Monaco on Tuesday.
It was a question of concentration once again as Pedro whipped in a fantastic equaliser on the stroke of half time. The Spaniard performed a neat Cruyff turn on the edge of the penalty area to evade the Spurs defence, only to find they had already gifted him all the time and space he could wish for to pick his spot. Pochettino turned away in disgust on the touchline.
If the manager is worried about getting his message across, the second half will have done little to alleviate those concerns. Only six minutes had passed before Chelsea took the lead, Victor Moses steaming in unmarked at the back post to convert Diego Costa’s cross via the thigh of the back-pedalling Jan Vertonghen on the goal line. Moments later, the Nigerian was free again, playing in Costa whose cutback was fired over wildly by Marcos Alonso on his weaker right foot.
The game had turned dramatically in Chelsea’s favour. The Blues were now in control, setting the tempo that Spurs had dictated for almost the entirety of the first period. Another Moses cross narrowly evaded Costa’s outstretched boot, while the lively Pedro and Eden Hazard continued to cause problems for an increasingly anxious Spurs defence.
While the sequence of three, four and five-nil home wins over Leicester, Manchester United and Everton installed Chelsea as convincing title challengers, this result will arguably bring more satisfaction to Antonio Conte. With Chelsea reverting to their strengths of potent wing play and pacy counter-attacking, they exhibited an impressive resolve to fight back for an important victory. Spurs threatened to get back into the game in the closing quarter, with Conte frantically gesticulating in the technical area, but overall the manager will be pleased with a hard-fought win.
As for Pochettino, the exposure of Spurs’s soft underbelly raises more fears over how their season is unfolding. Having rested Vertonghen and Kyle Walker in the Champions League exit against Monaco, seemingly with an eye on Saturday’s encounter, the manager could only watch as those European woes were compounded. At present Spurs are struggling to shake off the hangover of last season’s exhausting title race, much like Leicester. But if the slide isn’t arrested soon, it won’t be long until their targets are out of reach.