Spurs’ terrible record at Stamford Bridge followed a familiar pattern as Jose Mourinho’s side cruised to a 3-0 victory in the London Derby.
Mauricio Pochettino kept his faith in youth for the clash with Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb given the reins in midfield, although it was Harry Kane who had the quickest influence. The England man could only find Thibaut Courtois’ crossbar in the opening 15 minutes as Spurs came out all guns blazing.
Normality was restored within the next 5 minutes though as Vlad Chiriches let Eden Hazard in to smash past Lloris before the Frenchman himself’s error saw Didier Drogba find the bottom corner from 6 yards.
Spurs pushed in vain as Chelsea sat deep, and the 3 points were sealed in style for Mourinho as Loic Remy left Jan Vertonghen on his backside to add a 3
Player Ratings
Hugo Lloris 5 – A poor showing from Hugo who can be faulted for the first two goals. Awful distribution for the second and the ball went straight through him for Hazard’s goal.
Vlad Chiriches 5 – Understandably struggled with the threat of Eden Hazard but was left exposed by Spurs’ midfield at times. Generally inconsistent and his delivery isn’t much to behold. Plus, linked with Arsenal today in the papers…
Federico Fazio 5 – Also struggled with Chelsea’s speed and agility. Was a strong physical presence which was helpful when it came to Drogba, but isn’t exactly a ball-playing defender. Better than Kaboul? Dier should be given a go in my opinion.
Jan Vertonghen 5 – A poor one considering Jan’s stormer at the weekend. Lost Drogba for the second goal and was left embarrassed by Remy for the 3rd.
Ben Davies 6 – I don’t think Ben had a bad game at left-back and kept Willian mainly quiet, certainly coping with Hazard better than Vlad. Not bad delivery-wise but wasn’t exactly spoilt for targets, whipping the ball onto John Terry’s forehead.
Ryan Mason 6 – The signs are there for the academy prospects. Mason looked at home in the first half and got forward well during our golden 15 minutes. Bringing on Paulinho was a weird decision.
Nabil Bentaleb 7 – My Man of the Match. Nabil was our most disciplined player today and was instrumental in anything we did going forward. A huge, huge player for the future, Bentaleb made the most passes of anybody on the pitch including Cesc Fabregas.
Erik Lamela 5 – Erik disappeared again in a match where everyone had to be counted. Need to work on his physicality in a Gareth Bale kind of way…
Christian Eriksen 6 – Tried to weave his magic wherever he could but was largely fruitless other than inside our 15 minutes of fame. No sights of goal.
Aaron Lennon 5 – Couldn’t pull the Chelsea defenders out to the wings as much as he did against Hull and Everton. Left the midfield massively congested.
Harry Kane 6 – Came so ridiculously close to giving Spurs a 2-0 lead in the first half after crashing the ball off Courtois’ frame before slicing across goal. Played as a number 10 even when he was the main striker but held it up perfectly.
SUBS
Paulinho 5 – Never know why he came on. Injection of energy? Nah.
Nacer Chadli 5 – Non-existant.
Roberto Soldado N/a – Has to start on Saturday.
Nobody expected us to get a result away at the League leaders but our 15 minute burst of class made us all sit up and listen. But, in Spurs style the next 5 destroyed those hopes and dreams.
We’ve now got games at Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City out of the way before Christmas, and our academy prospects are beginning to shine.
Not all doom and gloom then.
COYS.
