Spurs Snatch a Point from Heated Encounter at Stamford Bridge

Sunday 14th August 2022 - 16:30

Match Report

Chelsea 2 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur

Venue: Stamford Bridge, London

Competition: English Premier League

"Pre-Match Thoughts – Superb start last week, now it's time to really kick-on in a much tougher test against London rivals and Conte's old side, Chelsea. He led them to the title in 2017 before being sacked and leaving on bad terms in 2018. He'll want to win this one more than most. He's spoken about how much it hurt him when they beat us 3 times in 3 weeks last season, but now his Spurs side are stronger. Are they up to the task? We've won just once in the last 37 meetings at Stamford Bridge, and despite Abramovich having to sell the club, Chelsea still splashed-out on signings such as Sterling, Cucurella and Koulibaly. They also got off to a winning start last weekend.

It's going to be an intriguing battle between the two sides. I can see it being a draw. I'll go 2-2."

Conte stuck with the same lineup that beat Southampton convincingly last week. The new 5 subs rule could come in handy with our newly strengthened bench and the intense heat in London.

It was a bright start from Spurs who were quick to put pressure on Chelsea. Unfortunately we failed to create any clear-cut chances.

Chelsea began to grow in confidence and the tide started to turn in their favour.

19' Son ran into trouble on halfway, Kante intercepted and found Sterling down the right side of the box who backheeled it to Havertz who shot first time across goal but Lloris stretched to make a superb save with the bottom of his boot and knock it a fraction wide.

19' Goal. The resulting corner found Koulibaly in reams of space at the far post. The new centre-back showed excellent technique to smash it on the volley straight past Lloris. The marking had to be better there from Spurs. It looked like it was Royal's man. 0-1.

22' Kane lofted a quick free-kick over the top and found Sessegnon in behind the defence. He bought it down and got his shot away from a tight angle but Mendy rushed over to make the save at his near post.

37' Chelsea continued to look the stronger side and Mount wriggled his way into a shooting position on the edge of the box before curling one for the top corner. Lloris was relieved to see it over his crossbar.

41' Son picked it up off the back of a corner and drove up the middle of the pitch trying to ignite a counter. Reece James recognised the danger and clinically dragged him down in the centre circle to halt the attack and earn himself a yellow card.

"Thoughts at Half-Time – After a promising start Spurs have been second best. Chelsea look more assured in possession and more of a threat when going forward. Something has to change if we're going to get anything out of this, hopefully Conte has the answers."

48' Bentancur played it into Kane who curled one in behind for Son to latch onto right in front of goal. He had to stretch to reach it though and as a result couldn't generate enough power or accuracy on the finish which allowed Mendy to make a save down low.

58' Richarlison came on to make his debut. It was a surprise to see Sessegnon make way for him. It meant Conte was switching from his heavily favoured 3-4-3 formation to a 4-2-4, with Richarlison joining the other three attackers.

61' Loftus-Cheek worked his way into the box from the right side, Spurs' defence blocked him out but Sterling picked up a deflection and took it across goal around 6 yards out searching for an opening. He eventually found one but blasted it over the top.

61' Spurs countered quickly and Højbjerg slipped through Kane, one on one, he went to place it across goal into the bottom corner but dragged it wide of the post. Everyone expected him to hit the net, or at least the target.

68' GOAL! Chelsea livid, after losing possession Bentancur put in one one of his trademark slide tackles from behind to win it back. Havertz leaped up screaming for a foul but Bentancur got a toe on the ball and marched on. Spurs mounted an attack, Kulusevski tried to worked his way into the box but was tackled by Cucurella, he played it short to Jorginho who was caught out by Son. The South Korean toed it to Davies who teed it up for Højbjerg just outside the top right corner of the box, he drilled a shot hard and low across goal nestling it into the bottom corner out of Mendy's reach. 1-1.

Tempers flared on the bench with Conte and Tuchel head-to-head on the side during the celebrations. They both received a yellow then VAR intervened to check both the slide tackle in the build-up and to see whether Richarlison was interfering with play in an offside position. Thankfully the goal stood.

75' James played a peach of a pass curling it in from the right side. Havertz met it but volleyed wide. Big let-off for Spurs.

77' Goal. Chelsea were putting Spurs under heavy pressure and Cucurella pinched it from Kulusevski then found Kante who was quick to give it to Sterling, he played it one more to the right to Reece James who had far too much space around the penalty spot, and with Davies and Son clambering to make a block he side-footed it by Lloris into the centre of the net. 2-1.

85' Havertz skipped past Dier down the right side then squared it to Gallagher in the centre of the box, he contemplated the shot before knocking it left to Mount who tried to sneak it into the near post but fired wide.

90'+4' Davies leaped to glance a header at goal that Mendy acrobatically tipped over the top.

VAR paused to take a look at Romero dragging Cucurella down by the hair. Thankfully he decided to take no further action and Spurs went on with another corner.

90'+6' GOAL! Perišić whipped in the corner. Kane got his head to it amongst a cluster of bodies and directed it down across goal where it brushed off Reece James' thigh and into the bottom corner. 2-2!

It all kicked-off again at full-time as Conte and Tuchel locked hands in the post-match handshake and went head-to-head for a second time. It resulted in both managers being shown red cards which seemed harsh on Conte after seeing the replays. Tuchel appeared to be the one who refused to let go of the handshake and sparked the controversy. Anyway, Conte will be the happier manager walking away from this one.

"Thoughts at Full-Time – A fiery encounter that earnt us a fantastic point in the end. Chelsea looked the better side pretty much throughout but we made sure we stayed in it and snatched a point at the very last. Another big, passionate performance and we continue on unbeaten."

Tottenham Player Ratings

• 1. Hugo Lloris – 5 – Showed quick reactions to deny Havertz with his boot in the first half. Had no chance with the volleyed goal from the resulting corner. Arguably went to ground too early for James' goal.

• 17. Cristian Romero – 6.5 – Another menacing performance from him. On the verge of fighting with Havertz throughout then dragged Cucurella down by his hair right before our late equaliser. He was lucky to get away with it and though he brings a nastiness to the side that we need in order for teams to fear facing us, he has to make sure he doesn't go too far and cost the team.

• 15. Eric Dier – 6.5 – Had to cope with a lot of pressure and despite a couple of shaky moments he was solid on the whole putting in important tackles and cutting-out some dangerous through balls.

• 33. Ben Davies – 6.5 – Slid out to left-back in the second half that demonstrated his versatility. It didn't quite work out though as he was left isolated trying to deal with Reece James for their second goal. Assisted Højbjerg's goal with a neat little pass. Showed great determination to leap and get his head onto a corner deep into stoppage that was tipped over to win a second corner that we scored from.

• 12. Emerson Royal – 6 – Allowed Koulibaly far too much space to volley home from a corner. Did some important defensive work but didn't offer much going forward.

• 30. Rodrigo Bentancur – 6 – Struggled a bit with the intensity in midfield. Made a brilliant tackle on Havertz in the build-up to our first goal though.

• 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 7 – Hassled and harried his way around the pitch as per. Kante seemed to be getting the better of him in the first half but he came out fighting in the second half where he slid a lovely through ball to Kane that he should have finished off, then found the bottom corner with a drilled shot from outside the area.

• 19. Ryan Sessegnon – 5 – Found himself in with a chance in the first half but couldn't find the net from a tight angle. Beaten too easily down his wing at times.

• 21. Dejan Kulusevski – 5 – A quieter game for him but he still put in a lot of work up and down that right side, constantly tracking back then trying to sneak in on attacks. Didn't get too much joy going forward though.

• 7. Son Heung-min – 5.5 – Sloppy to start and gave the ball away a number of times. Went racing away on the counter before being dragged down by James. Had a half chance in the second half that he was just stretching too much for to finish. Did well to get the ball to Davies in the build-up to Højbjerg's goal.

• 10. Harry Kane – 7 – Put Son and Sessegnon both in on goal but neither managed to finish. Should have put one away himself when played through by Højbjerg. Kept going and grabbed a vital headed goal at the last to earn a point.

Substitutions:

• 19. Ryan Sessegnon ⬅ 57' ➡ 9. Richarlison – 7 – Looked hungry. Got on the ball and caused a bit of chaos up there in the last half an hour.

• 30. Rodrigo Bentancur ⬅ 79' ➡ 38. Yves Bissouma – 6.5 – Came on and got involved. Good to see his passionate celebrations with the fans at the end.

• 7. Son Heung-min ⬅ 79' ➡ 14. Ivan Perišić – 7 – Worked hard and curled in a lovely corner that Kane nodded in at the last.

• 12. Emerson Royal ⬅ 82' ➡ 27. Lucas Moura – N/A – Made his first competitive appearance in his new right wing-back role. Didn't have much chance to assess him there. It's alarming for Doherty that he went on instead of him, the more natural right wing-back.

Man of the Match – 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg