Tottenham Hotspur 0-3 Chelsea
Chelsea climbed to first place in the Premier League on Sunday night thanks to a convincing win over London rivals Spurs.
It was a game of two halves as the hosts had much the better of the first 45 minutes, but two quick fire goals, courtesy of Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante took the match away from Spurs, who were then hanging on for the rest of the game, until Anton Rudiger made it three. The result takes Thomas Tuchel’s Blues level on points with Liverpool at the top after the Reds had beaten Crystal Palace 3-0.
In the weekend’s other Premier League 2021 results Manchester United survived a late penalty scare to beat West Ham, but there was frustration for Manchester City who drew 0-0 at home to Southampton to drift three points off the pace.
Highlights of the game
Spurs came into the game with selection problems after Steven Bergwijn and Lucas Moura both picked up knocks against Rennes, but there was a return for Heung-Min Son who had a lively start to the game. On just three minutes the South Korean unleashed a shot which was blocked by his strike partner Harry Kane, and midway through the half he had a good chance when Giovanni Lo Celso put him through, but a poor touch allowed Marcos Alonso to distract him and keeper Kepa to save.
For Chelsea, Kai Havertz sliced a volley wide and Andreas Christensen watched his shot fly narrowly off target. But the hosts spent much of the first half on the front foot and, belying the pre-match Spurs vs Chelsea betting odds they went into half time having played well for much of the game. Indeed, Spurs had more shots in the opening five minutes today than in the entire match against Crystal Palace last week!
But when you’re on top you have to make it count and, having shaded the first half, Spurs were behind within five minutes of the restart. And the goal was a classic set piece as Thiago rose high above Eric Dier to meet Marcos Alonso’s corner with a brilliant header giving Hugo Lloris no chance.
Chelsea almost made it two immediately but this time Dier was alert to clear an Alonso effort off the line. But, on 57 minutes it was 0-2 as N’Golo Kante let fly from 25 yards, but Dier was unlucky as the shot hit him and wrong-footed Lloris before creeping into the net.
Now it was all Chelsea and while their fans chanted, ‘Champions of Europe’ the Spurs faithful were distraught. Silva rose to meet another Alonso corner but this time Lloris saved, and then Romelu Lukaku put Timo Werner in but the German’s first touch let him down. And Lukaku should have made it three when he met a cross from Anton Rudiger but as we all expected the net to bulge the Belgian headed straight at Lloris, but Rudiger did score the third deep into stoppage time with a clinical finish.
Key statistics
This victory made it five wins in six for Chelsea against Spurs and they kept clean sheets in four of those games.
Tuchel is a master of away fixtures, losing just one of 16 matches on the road and the Blues have kept clean sheets in 15 of his 24 Premier League games in charge.
At 36 years of age Thiago became Chelsea’s second oldest Premier League scorer of all time, behind Didier Drogba, who was 37 when he scored for the Blues against Leicester City.
What’s next?
Chelsea have made a statement of intent and are serious contenders to win the title, second favourites at odds of 3.50, and they meet favourites Manchester City in the match of the weekend at Stamford Bridge next Saturday. After that they have a mouth-watering Champions League clash with Juventus, and before it they host Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup.
The action just keeps on coming for SBOTOP football fans as Spurs too have a huge week ahead.
On the back of a crushing defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace this was another hefty blow, and next up Nuno’s team have a Carabao Cup date away to Wolves before meeting Arsenal in the North London Derby next Sunday. The Gunners revival continued with a narrow 0-1 victory away to Burnley on Saturday when Martin Odegaard scored a brilliant free-kick and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale put in a fine performance.
Mikel Arteta’s team will be well prepared for this huge clash and Spurs fans will be nervous.
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