Tottenham Match Report: 2-1 loss to Chelsea

Tottenham lost 2-1 against Chelsea despite looking in control for most of their debut Premier League match at Wembley Stadium.

Needless fouls on the edge of both Tottenham and Chelsea’s penalty areas seemed to decide this match up, but it was a late goal from an unlikely source that truly ended it.

Both team’s lineups immediately proved to be misleading. While it was possible to imagine the 3-4-2-1 formation so commonly used last season by both teams, on the pitch it wasn’t so simple.

Chelsea quite consciously wanted to stifle the efforts of Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen. David Luiz pushed up from his usual position at centre-back to mark the Dane throughout the match. Meanwhile, Tiémoué Bakayoko and N’Golo Kanté added muscle and movement to the center of the park, respectively.

Perhaps in reaction to Luiz’s move to midfield, Mauricio Pochettino switched things up in his Tottenham team as well.

Eric Dier might have started as part of a back three under normal circumstances, but in order to balance the weight in midfield Pochettino had the Englishman push up.

The result was that midfield almost immediately came to a boil, with both sides aggressively attempted to reclaim possession and position from each other whenever the ball found its way there.

Luiz’s marking of Eriksen was key to this maelstrom. The Dane can usually find a way through even the densest lines, but with Luiz hanging off of him Spurs looked especially blunt in the opening half hour of play.

Even if they couldn’t find much joy down in the final third, Spurs showed a great deal more composure through the middle that one might have expected. This was in many ways a near perfect expression of Pochettino’s pressing game — and indeed Spurs’ increased ability to resist pressure themselves.

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Mousa Dembélé embodies this kind of effort, and it’s no surprise that he absolutely sparkled in the center of the pitch. The difference here was that Dembélé’s teammates showed a markedly improved ability to both retain possession and find ways around Chelsea’s marking.

It wasn’t always successful, as Eriksen’s frustrations illustrate. But it made Spurs look the far better team for much of the first half, especially in the final 15 minutes. Harry Kane came closest with a shot that rang off the far post.

Now, of course, Chelsea did manage to score just prior to that surge. A foul conceded on the edge of the area was marvelously converted by Marcos Alonso — who would wind up being the defining individual of the match.

Even after the goal, Spurs continued to grow into the game, and the interval didn’t slow them down. Chelsea continued to present a very tricky defensive question. Antonio Conte must be credited for some truly impressive organization after the embarrassment at Stamford Bridge last weekend.

A endless succession of corners throughout the game came to nothing for Spurs, and fears began to set in that Spurs might succumb even after such an impressive performance.

Those fears were briefly allayed by an Eriksen free-kick that ended with an own-goal from Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi. The crowd clearly felt they had momentum on their side with about ten minutes left to play.

Just minutes later, though, that fear were belatedly realized. After Dembélé capably dealt with a Batshuayi run into the box, Chelsea reclaimed possession. Once again it was Alonso who took advantage of the situation, running into the box and sneaking one past Hugo Lloris for the winning goal.

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Needless to say, this is not the result anyone at Tottenham wanted. A draw might have been acceptable, but to lose it so late like this is a blow that might just leave a nasty bruise.