Image Credit: Sporting Life
By Lee Clow
22 February 2020 | Premier League
Frank Lampard completed a double over Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham as Chelsea ran out 2-1 victors at Stamford Bridge.
Tottenham start defensively with a back 5 in shape looking to attack on the break while Chelsea controlled the opening stages.
Despite playing second fiddle, the fist chance in the game came from Tottenham’s Lucas Moura who sneaked off the left flank. The Brazilian, coming in to centre of the pitch, skipped past a few defenders before unleashing a strike towards goal, but Willy Caballero got down well to keep the score at 0-0.
Following this Chelsea went up the other end and broke through Spurs’ defence. Mason Mount glided down the left flank allowing him to get into a one on one situation with Hugo Lloris, but it was the French goalkeeper who won the battle, making a good save on his near post.
Chelsea continued to play on front foot and started to press Tottenham with great effect. The press soon paid off as Ross Barkley picked the ball up in the centre of the park and began running at the Tottenham defence. The England midfielder, unchallenged, drove towards goal before firing a shot from range however the ball just flew wide of Lloris’ goal.
After 15 minutes, Chelsea’s dominance soon paid off as they opened the scoring. Olivier Giroud managed to break through and strike early but Lloris was there to save again, however the rebound found Barkley who stuck the post before the ball found its way back to Giroud who excellently struck low into the bottom corner to give the home side the lead.
Tottenham eventually settled in to the game and began creating chances for themselves. From a Spurs corner Davinson Sanchez managed to flick the ball towards goal but Caballero did very well by tipping the ball over the bar.
Moments later, Tottenham created another chance through an unlikely source. Toby Alderweireld picked out another lovely long ball towards Japhet Tanganga, who took a heavy touch which almost paid off in his favour as it caught out Caballero, but the touch proved too much as it trickled across the byline for a goal kick.
Going into the break the score remained 1-0 to the home side. The visitors looked dangerous late on however the Blues certainly deserved their lead.
In the second half Chelsea resumed their dominance of the game and it didn’t take them long until they found their second. After some lovely one touch football, the ball got played out to Marcos Alonso who hit it first time into the bottom corner of the goal sending the home fans into raptures.
Despite the sucker punch, Tottenham began to grab hold of the ball as they searched for a way into the game.
With much of the second half dominated by Spurs, Chelsea has a rare attack in the final 15 minutes. Mount superbly skipped past Jan Vertonghen before squaring it to substituting Tammy Abraham who looked certain to score however Lloris made a world class save to dent the England striker.
Moments later, Chelsea won a free kick on the edge of the area with many candidates over the ball. Goalscorer Alonso was the man responsible for the free kick and he saw his strike smash the cross bar letting Tottenham off the hook.
In the final few minutes, Tottenham found a goal back giving them a lifeline in the game. Substitute Erik Lamela managed to get in behind the Chelsea defence and while trying to square the ball to Dele Alli in the centre of the box, the ball deflected off Antonio Rudiger and trickled over the line to make it 2-1.
However it was to little to late for Spurs as Chelsea managed to hold on for victory. The victory means Chelsea and Frank Lampard have completed a double over Tottenham this season pushing them 4 points ahead of their rivals.
After the game, Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho gave his thoughts on the game: "I'm very proud of the players, they gave absolutely everything. We don't have a striker. Our attacking players are not strikers and are in huge levels of fatigue, so very, very difficult for us. No tactical problems, [we were] completely in control of the space, punished by a couple of individual mistakes.”
"In the last part of the game when Chelsea was scared of the 2-1 we didn't have that presence, that power, we didn't have that to do more than what we did.”
"To create chances you need a target man or fast people that can interchange positions, you need a different dynamic to the team. We don't have a striker and we have tired players, it's as simple as that. We did very, very well. If we score before our opponent, I think we have a chance because we are well organised. But when they score before us and drop back it's very, very difficult for us.”
"A defeat is a defeat, but the good thing is, in the last seconds the players were still fighting for a result and that for me is a very important thing."
Winning boss Frank Lampard also spoke after the game in frustration of the lack of red card to Lo Celso after the Argentine appeared to stamp on Cesar Azpilicueta: "It is not good enough, that is two VARs in two games, it is hard to shout about it when you have lost but today everybody saw that. It is a red.”
"I hate to call for red cards but that is a leg breaker. I am not saying about referees on the spot, VAR is here to clear things up and it is not good enough."
What’s next?
Tottenham’s next game is against Wolves next Sunday in the Premier League while Chelsea return to Champions League football in midweek as they take on Bayern Munich at Stamford Bridge.
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