Tottenham vs Chelsea a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
January 5, 2017
2,340 Views
- Chelsea failed to become the History Boys last night as their run of successive Premier League wins finally came to an end at White Hart Lane
- Turns out that 13 is unlucky for some as Tottenham exacted some revenge for ‘The Battle Of Stamford Bridge’ last season
- But that’s not to say that revenge was necessarily on Tottenham’s mind going into this game, it was more the desire to get all three points and move further up the table.
- With both sides setting out in a back three, which I supposed you could say produced two lineups of 3-6-1 it meant that unlike their encounter at Stamford Bridge the two London sides were going like for like.
- This was a formation that played to the strengths of Danny Rose and Kyle Walker and once again they were impressive throughout the night
- With the two sides having the two tightest defences it came as no surprise that there were very few shots on goal in the first half
- Arguably the highlight of the half would have been the fact that Diego Costa and Pedro had an on pitch slagging match much to the amusement of Tottenham fans
- Costa felt aggrieved that Pedro did not show enough pace to latch on to his compatriots through pass
- It blew over eventually but Costa was still taking umbrage minutes later
- Had the two sides gone into the break level then you would say that Tottenham were arguably on top
- Dele Alli made certain of that with a well placed header on the stroke of half time
- An inch perfect cross from Christian Eriksen found the head of the England international and the ball looped past Thibaut Courtois to put the home side in front
- It was a goal on the stroke of half time which changed the shape of the game when these two sides met at Stamford Bridge and it was the same again at White Hart Lane
- Questions will be asked of David Luiz as he went wandering at just the wrong time
- With Eriksen lofting the ball into the danger area it was hesitancy mixed with Victor Moses’ failure to step up from the offside trap which gave the 20 year old Dele Alli the ideal opportunity to put Spurs in front
- One that he would not waste
- Whatever Antonio Conte said in his team talk it once again seemed to rev Chelsea up
- They started the Second Half brighter but Mauricio Pochettino’s men were more than equal to whatever was thrown at them
- The next goal was going to be crucial an 10 minutes of the restart we got it
- A goal which all but took the wind out of Chelsea’s sails
- Again the Eriksen, Alli partnership linked up to devastating effect as Alli used his head to compound Chelsea’s misery
- Tottenham’s advantage now doubled
- A third consecutive double for Alli – that’s 6 goals in 3 matches for all you maths fans
- With Chelsea’s winning streak all but gone all they could hope for was to get back into the game and earn an unlikely point
- But again whatever they threw at Tottenham’s back three they could not find a way through
- Tottenham looked masterful at the back and Chelsea seemed to fizzle out in the last 10-15 minutes or so
- The home fans certainly did not though as the atmosphere was rocking from the first minute to the last
- There may only be a few games left at White Hart Lane before the rebuilding project starts but instead of rebuilding a stadium they may well have to rebuild a fortress
- Still they are yet to taste defeat at home with their only losses this season coming at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge
- You could not fault any of the Tottenham players last night as they came away with a well earned victory
- Harry Kane was perhaps anonymous but that’s not to say he did not put a shift in as Chelsea’s back line kept him in check
- They may have kept Kane quiet but they failed to do the same with Dele Alli
- A massive three points for Spurs as they move up to 3rd place in the table
- They’ve almost flown under the radar what with 5 straight wins but you get the feeling that will no longer be the case
- Has that win blown the title race open?
- Perhaps not as Chelsea are still in the driving seat
- But you could say that there are definitely 5 teams fighting over those 3 remaining Champions League places
- I would not like to predict who ends up in the Top 4 come May.
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