Chelsea 0-2 Tottenham (Penders OG 77’, Tel 87’ | Palmer red card 80’)
STAMFORD BRIDGE – You can only assume Mike Penders doesn’t watch much Question Time, or at least mutes the bits when Wes Streeting starts telling us to stockpile in case of extraordinary events: extreme weather, cyber-attacks, Tottenham Hotspur victories at Stamford Bridge.
Nobody could have foreseen Spurs seizing just their second win in 36 years here in the manner they did.
It was a day of downpours in west London and early on, Xabi Alonso pulled Penders over for a chat. It looked like he was urging him to bash it away instead of attempting catches, due to the ferocious weather. The debutant goalkeeper never looked comfortable with a ball that was too slippery, until he inadvertently followed Alonso’s instructions by punching the ball into his own net.
From a Tottenham perspective, all that was besides the point. This was a vindication of everything Roberto De Zerbi has been trying to do. If you were to ask exactly what De Zerbi-ball looks like, it would be fair to say we have never really seen it in full flow at Spurs, because he has never had the personnel.
But after two wins in a week, it is evolving into something grittier, with a midfield less easily overpowered. Adaptable too, he reverted to a 4-2-3-1 after going with three at the back against Coventry. He praised the “spirit” of his players but spirit is something intangible. There was more meat on the bones than that.
Spurs celebrate a famous win at Stamford Bridge (Photo: Getty)Mateus Fernandes made more touches overall, touches in the final third, chances and completed passes than anyone on the pitch. De Zerbi has rarely started him since the £85m summer move from West Ham – part selection, part minor niggles.
On his day charging forward, retaining the ball and outmuscling his opponents, he looks like a reincarnation of Mousa Dembele – the last criminally underrated Spurs central midfielder to tear up Stamford Bridge.
Fernandes was everywhere and so was James Maddison. Chelsea supposedly had a strengthened midfield with Moises Caicedo back – Tottenham made light work of it. Maddison drifted left to combine with the superb Mathys Tel – scorer of the second from 25 yards on his first start in six weeks – and Andy Robertson.
When Maddison, Sandro Tonali and Fernandes are all fit – which has only happened twice this season – they have to start together. They invited Chelsea to press and then played straight through them. At the time Maddison was replaced by Conor Gallagher, Spurs had 68.5 per cent of the ball. By the final whistle, the possession was exactly the same.
That is testament to Gallagher, jeered mercilessly on his return to Stamford Bridge, and a sign that Spurs are finally getting it right in the first two thirds of the pitch.
The clean sheet bears acknowledging too, for only Manchester City and Brighton have scored more than Chelsea this season. Joao Pedro was a huge miss and the centre-backs contained Morgan Rogers up front with relative ease. The outside noise might have persuaded De Zerbi to break up the partnership of Jan Paul van Hecke and Micky van de Ven. He rightly stuck with it.
Tottenham not only look more solid but more street-smart. There were glimpses of the Battle of the Bridge when the two dugouts and sets of players came head-to-head after Cole Palmer’s barge on Fernandes. It should have earned Palmer a red there and then, before he was sent off anyway for going in late on Gallagher.
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Kat Lucas: Tottenham are scoring screamers again – here’s why Spurs: ‘He didn’t sack me, Joe Lewis did’: Inside Daniel Levy’s Spurs, one year onThere was no such head loss from Spurs. Maddison’s latest injury setback was the only dampener and he will undergo tests on Sunday.
“I think it’s not a very important problem,” stressed De Zerbi. “I hope it’s not a big problem because he’s a special player for us. We need him.”
It is a different midfield with Maddison and Fernandes in it – and an altogether different Tottenham.
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