No Joy For Tottenham Against Chelsea At Stamford Bridge

Tottenham hopes of ending their poor run against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge floundered when they conceded two goals in four minutes midway through the first half. Spurs worked hard but Chelsea confirmed their victory by scoring a third with 17 minutes remaining.

Chelsea 3 Tottenham Hotspur 0

Scorers: Hazard, Drogba, Remy

Team: Lloris; Chiriches, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Bentaleb, Mason (Paulinho); Lennon (Chadli), Eriksen, Lamela (Soldado); Kane Subs: (unused) Vorm, Dier, Kaboul, Naughton

For their Premier League match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Tottenham manager, Mauricio Pochettino, made just one change to the team which defeated Everton on Sunday. Erik Lamela returned in midfield with Roberto Soldado dropping to the bench as the manager switched back to a 4-2-3-1 formation. With his suspension completed, Kyle Naughton was included among the substitutes.

Tottenham made a positive start at Stamford Bridge with early pressure, winning a couple of corners and a free-kick on the edge of the area. From Lamela’s free-kick, Vlad Cririches played the ball back into the area where Jan Vertonghen rose above his marker but his header went over the bar in the 4th minute. After 7 minutes, Ryan Mason won the ball on the edge of the Chelsea box and played it wide to Aaron Lennon. The cross from the right was met by Harry Kane but his header rebounded off the bar.

In a quick break from defence, a minute later, Christian Eriksen tried to play in Kane but the ball was cut out. After 11 minutes, Kane dispossessed Cahill on the left touchline and headed for the area. His powerful shot went across the goal and past the far post.

After 15 minutes, Chelsea put Spurs under pressure with controlled possession around their penalty area and Fabregas had a shot held by Hugo Lloris. In the 18th minute, the pressure paid dividends for the home side when Hazard played a one – two with Drogba on the edge of the area and his powerful shot to the near post beat Lloris. The Spurs captain got a hand to the ball but it had such power that he could only deflect it across goal and into the far side of the net.

A long range shot from Bentaleb after 20 minutes was wasteful and in the 22nd minute a mistake by Lloris gifted Chelsea a goalscoring opportunity which they gratefully accepted. A poor kick out went straight to Hazard who found Oscar with a simple pass. One more pass put Drogba behind the Spurs defence and Chelsea were two goals ahead.

Chelsea could now play their normal confident, controlled, composed game while Spurs game became ragged as they tried to stem the flow in the Chelsea game.

The home team looked the more dangerous and the more likely to score but Courtois saved a shot from Mason after 33 minutes and saved again from Kane, five minutes before the interval but the Spurs striker was flagged offside. Willian tested Lloris with two low shots in the final minutes of the half as Chelsea maintained their control of the match.

In the second period Tottenham enjoyed the greater possession but with Chelsea’s disciplined display they were unable to find a way through the home defence. When they gained possession Chelsea broke at pace and were a constant threat. An early shot by Eriksen went went wide and in the 55th minute a ball over the Spurs defence was gathered by Lloris.

Nacer Chadli and Paulinho replaced Lennon and Mason in the 57th minute but it made little difference to the course of the game. Spurs enjoyed a period of possession and by the 70th minute had had 67% of the possession in the second half. Drogba couldn’t make good contact with a cross in the 59th minute and two minutes later at the other end a ball into Chadli was just ahead of him.