A tight game ended in defeat for Tottenham, as the home side worked out a 2-0 victory. Chelsea smiles after London derby success.
The Blues could not get much done to begin the match, however Spurs stagnant attack truly kept Chelsea in the game. Even Mauricio Pocchettino was unhappy with Spurs lame attack, lacking a good number of shots.
The game was knotted at 0-0 when the half time whistle blew, however, it changed with the through ball from Cesar Azpilicueta to a sprinting Pedro, who was able to cut inside of Ben Davies. Pedro proceeded into the penalty area and approached Hugo Lloris, who was promptly beaten by the Spaniard’s shot.
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Spurs still could not muster much in return, aside from some intense pressure that was handled well by Willie Caballero. The goalkeeper was the replacement for the disobedient Kepa, who refused to be substituted in the EFL Cup final match against Manchester City. The video of Kepa caused quite a stir among EPL fans, thus such a change was anticipated. Any such insubordination would be expected to have been met with the like.
The only other true scoring chance Spurs had was a lobbed ball, which flew over the hands of the outstretched Caballero and thudded off of the woodwork in Chelsea’s favour. This shot was unfurled by Harry Winks.
The final goal was scored in the eighty-fourth minute and was of a quite embarrassing nature for Tottenham. As Kieran Trippier regained possession of an errant ball, he passed it back to his goalkeeper Lloris. However, the Frenchman had not realized the defender’s intentions and charged out to claim the ball for himself in hopes of launching it downfield. The end result was an utter embarrassment for Pochettino’s side, as the ball simply rolled into Spurs vacated net.
With both a Manchester City and a Liverpool victory, Spurs now sit in a distant third place with 60 points trailing the two previous clubs with eight and nine points, respectively. Arsenal retains their spot of fourth in the table, trailed by a point in Manchester United. Chelsea is behind by three full points, as well. However, they do indeed possess a game in hand on the other North London based club.
Spurs will face Arsenal in Wembley as part of the second half of the North London Derby as their next opponent. Arsenal is coming off of a rather convincing 5-1 victory over Bournemouth in their last match. On the other hand, Chelsea will also partake in a derby, the West London Derby to be exact. They will face off against Fulham at Craven Cottage in hopes of tightening the gap between themselves and Arsenal for the precious fourth spot in the table.
Another tension-filled matchday has gone by and the importance of each of these matches grows by the week.