Spurs Swept Aside by Strong Second Half Showing from Chelsea

Sunday 19th September 2021

Match Report

Tottenham Hotspur 0 – 3 Chelsea

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

Competition: English Premier League

Tottenham slumped to a second consecutive 3-0 defeat in the Premier League, this time on their home turf, as Chelsea showed their superiority in terms of both players and manager.

Many Spurs fans would have been delighted seeing the starting line-up – a Premier League return for Tanguy Ndombele, as well as the inclusion of Argentine duo Lo Celso and Romero, who finally returned from a tumultuous International break. Fan favourite Son Heung-min was also deemed fit to start, and Eric Dier too, despite hobbling off against Palace last weekend.

Superb atmosphere from the off and a lively start from Spurs. They looked positive, piling forward and won a free-kick in a dangerous position after just four minutes as Romero was brought down.

Unfortunately the resulting effort from Kane clipped the top of the wall and deflected off behind.

The combination of Kane and Son pairing up top together saw Kane dropping into a much deeper role, with Son staying forward looking to run in behind. This was reminiscent of Mourinho's tactic that worked well in his early days at the club.

Half an hour in and Spurs, backed by their home support, were maintaining a hold on the game. They'd created chances but failed to capitalise on them. The closest they came was Son's one on one with Chelsea keeper Arizabalaga, who showed bravery rushing out and smothering the ball at Son's feet. Despite the encouraging pressure from Spurs, Chelsea continued to look dangerous every time they had their chance to venture forward. A fearful combination of assuredness and speed to their play.

Kane's work-rate was admirable, trying to do pretty much everything for his side in the opposition half. However, there was an argument to be made that he would have been better off calming down and being more disciplined in his positional play, as drawing close to the halfway point, he already looked shattered out there. Spurs also missed his presence in and around the penalty area.

"Thoughts at Half Time – 0-0 at the break. Spurs have held their own against a Chelsea side who are being touted as title contenders this season. Defending European Champions too. Let's just hope Spurs and the crowd can come out with the same energy they displayed in the first half, and turn the positive play we've seen from them so far into a goal. It could go either way and it feels like that first goal is going to be a crucial one!"

The only change at the break was a showing of Chelsea's strength in depth, with Mason Mount making way for the ever-consistent N'Golo Kanté. A tactical switch from Tuchel, replacing a more attack minded midfielder with a more defensive one. The world cup winning Frenchman slotted into a deeper role than Mount was playing in midfield, and he went on to be instrumental in Chelsea's dominance in the second half.

Spurs fans continued to boo Alonso… I wasn't sure what for, but I had no inclination to disagree with it. Was it just because he always scores against us? While I pondered on this he came mighty close to doing just that yet again – Just a minute into the second half, a cross-field ball found him having snuck in behind right back Emerson Royal. He managed to catch a clean connection with a volley despite having to desperately stretch for it, and his effort would have found the net were it not for Hugo Lloris' cat-like reflexes to save well, using two strong hands to push it over the top.

Forty-nine minutes in and Alonso was there again to assist the opening goal. His corner was whipped in and veteran centre back Thiago Silva, who had an excellent game all round, climbed above a weak Dele to head home into the bottom right corner. 1-0 Chelsea.

Rather than jumping to challenge, Dele simply stood there and turned his back. He saw Thiago's incoming run but still failed to put up a fight to stop him. Poor from him. Though some would argue that he shouldn't be the one who ends up marking such a threat as Thiago Silva on set pieces in the first place.

Spurs had a lot of work to do. Chelsea came out from the break visibly the stronger of the two sides and now had the goal to show for it. Could Tottenham respond?

Alonso soon found himself in the mix again, playing a quick give and go and finding himself on the end of a cross that he struck side-footed from around the penalty spot. His effort had the beating of Lloris but Dier did well to keep it out by jumping in the way and using his torso to block it off the line.

Fifty-seven minutes in and Chelsea grabbed a second – Substitute N'Golo Kanté found a quite ridiculous pocket of space between the Spurs penalty area and the halfway line and decided to drill one low and hard at goal. Dier attempted to block it but it cannoned off his heel, onto the inside of the right post, and agonisingly rolled over the line when it looked for a moment that it could've hit the other post and stayed out. Luck wasn't on Spurs' side. 2-0 Chelsea.

With the game rapidly running away from Spurs, Nuno made a double change on the sixty-second minute – Lo Celso and Ndombele making way for Gil and Skipp.

Kane had his only attempt on target in the sixty-fourth minute – a drilled shot from outside the area that was too central and Arrizabalaga was down to save it with relative ease.

Sixty-five minutes in and we started to see Gil making positive driving runs forward, looking to bring some fresh energy to the Spurs attack. Skipp looked up for it too, getting stuck in. Tottenham pushed to get one back and give themselves an unlikely chance in the game with twenty five minutes remaining against a notably staunch Thomas Tuchel Chelsea side.

But on seventy-three minutes it was Chelsea who came close again – Lloris making a jumping double handed save from another strong Thiago Silva header from a corner.

Worryingly for Spurs, at 2-0 and fifteen minutes to go, Chelsea looked the more likely to increase their lead rather than Spurs pulling one back.

Werner came off the bench to have a couple of good chances he arguably should have put away to increase Chelsea's lead. Something the German has become known for since arriving in the Premier League.

After eighty-two minutes and 2-0 down, Spurs made a like for like swap at centre back – Sánchez making way for a tired Romero.

Lloris spent the next ten minutes keeping Chelsea at bay time and time again. If it weren't for our skipper between the sticks it could have easily been five or six for the blues in the second half.

Though a minute into stoppage time he was finally beaten again. You could see it coming from a mile away. The goal arrived through another unlikely scorer, this time it was centre back and fan favourite Rüdiger. A low cross was played into him and he struck it first time across goal into the bottom right corner. Again, Lloris with no chance and Spurs' defence torn to shreds.

Spurs' energy in the opening half an hour or so soon died out. It appeared that Tuchel had told his side to just stay calm and ride the wave in the opening stages. He knew the home crowd would rile Spurs up for a big derby clash like this, and Chelsea just made sure they kept it tight at the back. They did so brilliantly too. Veteran Thiago Silva bossed it at the heart of the defence and although Spurs looked lively in the first half, they still failed to create many meaningful chances.

Whatever was said during Tuchel's half time team talk worked wonders with his side. He reinstalled their belief and Chelsea came out for the second half with a swagger. In the other dressing room it appeared as if Nuno had just told his team to go out there and do the same again. Keep it up! And Spurs were rocked. They were caught off guard by the fire ignited in the bellies of the European Champions and completely outclassed in every regard after the break.

Tottenham Player Ratings:

• 1. Hugo Lloris – 8 – Demonstrated how important he still is to the side. Could have easily been five or six if it wasn't for the Spurs skipper between the sticks with his snappy reactions. Nothing he could do about any of the three goals.

• 12. Emerson Royal – 4 –Struggled to cope with Alonso throughout. Seemingly gave up tracking him back altogether in the end which simply isn't good enough.

• 4. Cristian Romero – 6 – Reasonable performance from him on his first Premier League start. Tired in the second half which led to him eventually being subbed off for Sánchez.

• 15. Eric Dier – 6 – His positioning wasn't great. Made a brilliant block on the line using his torso at one point to keep Spurs in it. Unlucky to see Kanté's pot-shot deflect off his foot onto the post and into the net.

• 3. Sergio Regulión – 4 – Showed a lack of confidence with a huge chance in the first half when entering into the penalty area with the Chelsea defenders seemingly encouraging him to go all the way and shoot, but he bottled it and crossed straight into the feet of Rüdiger. Didn't defend well on the whole either, was all over the place for Rüdiger's goal.

• 28. Tanguy Ndombele – 6 – Started well, showing the sort of silky touches he's become known for. Tired too soon though and was subbed off in the second half.

• 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 6 – Decent in the first half but completely outclassed by Kanté in the second.

• 20. Dele Alli – 5 – Struggled to stand up to Chelsea's midfield. Rarely did anything of note. Chasing shadows for the majority of the game.

• 18. Giovani Lo Celso – 5 – Good pass into Son in the first half setting up Spurs' best chance. Too lazy defensively though. Gave the ball away for Chelsea's second and his tracking back looked half-arsed too many times.

• 10. Harry Kane – 4 – A day to forget for Kane. Looked heavy legged again. Took up a deeper role behind Son and made little to no impact. Should have been in and around the box where he's much more of a threat.

• 7. Son Heung-min – 4 – Didn't look match fit. Had the one chance in the first half that Arrizabalaga smothered at his feet. Didn't get a sniff otherwise.

Substitutions:

• 28. Tanguy Ndombele <-- 62' --> 29. Oliver Skipp – 6 – Got stuck in as usual but could do little to nullify Chelsea's dominance.

• 18. Giovani Lo Celso <-- 62' --> 11. Bryan Gil – 5 – Brought a kick of energy into Spurs' midfield but Chelsea were too good defensively for the youngster to make an impact.

• 4. Cristian Romero <-- 83' --> 6. Davinson Sánchez – N/A – Brought on late for a cramped up Romero.