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Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 2 Chelsea
23 December 2019 | Premier League
By Lee Clow
Jose Mourinho suffered another defeat to his former team as Frank Lampard’s Chelsea stunned Tottenham in a 0-2 away win.
Willian scored a double as the Blues took advantage of a Spurs side who failed to get out of the blocks, but the game was overshadowed by allegations of racist abuse inside the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Chelsea started the game brightly and soon found themselves in front after 12 minutes. Whilst defending a corner, Spurs switched off giving Willian a chance to receive the ball on the edge of the area and unleash a curling effort into the bottom corner past Spurs goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.
The home side responded well to going behind as they created two great chances to equalise. Harry Kane fired over from a Moussa Sissoko cut back and Heung-Min Son could not stay composed as he lashed his shot over after getting on the end of a low cross along the box.
Spurs soon became frustrated and tension started to arise between both sets of players. Dele Alli and Mateo Kovacic were involved in confrontation off the ball following a challenge resulting in them both being booked.
It then went bad to worse for Spurs as Gazzaniga suffered a moment of madness when he rushed out of his goal minutes before the end of the first half. The Argentine goalkeeper, deputising for the injured Hugo Lloris, recklessly attempted an acrobatic clearance from an onrushing Marcos Alonso, but instead missed the ball and clattered the man. Initially the referee gave a freekick for Spurs, but VAR soon stepped correcting the decision by awarding Chelsea a penalty. Willian stepped up to the spot and clinically placed the ball home making it 0-2, leaving Gazzaniga pondering his actions.
In the second half, Tottenham continued to be uninspiring as their frustrations increased due to Chelsea’s game plan.
Son, who was red carded against Everton but later overturned, received another red card as he erratically lashed out his leg on Antonio Rudiger following a challenge. After a lengthy VAR review, the South Korean received his marching orders resulting in Tottenham going down to 10 men for the remainder of the half.
Frustration by the players soon reached the fans as two outrageous incidents occurred late on. Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga was struck by a bottle thrown by a Spurs fan and Rudiger gestured towards the referee that he had been subjected to a racist remark. The match was temporality halted as referee spoke to both managers and later three anti-racism stadium announcements were made.
Chelsea held out for victory in what was an impressive performance despite being overshadowed by the racist incidents during the game. The victory for Chelsea restores their six-point gap between them and Spurs, who lie in 5th, after the home side failed to climb into the top four with a win. Jose Mourinho has now lost against both his former sides in Chelsea and Manchester United, as head coach of Tottenham Hotspur.
After the game both managers gave their views on the racist incident involving Antonio Rudiger. Jose Mourinho said: "I was focused on the game and was far away from the area where it looked like the incident happened. I have not much to say apart from that it saddens me.”
"I hate racism in society, I hate racism in football. I'm disappointed things like that still can happen. But the referee stopped the game, spoke to the teams, spoke to the captains, spoke to the coaches.”
"I was losing and didn't want the game to be stopped, but immediately when I knew why the game was stopped, I obviously understood and accepted it. The club is a very proud club in these kinds of situations, and the club will try to deal with it internally."
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said: "All I know is that Antonio Rudiger heard a racist chant or comment. I haven't had an individual conversation with Rudiger, I've only addressed the group and a few of the lads are in doping.”
"Of course, I will support Toni, as we would support any of our players and, in fact, any opposition players, wherever it happens, whatever stadium it happens at. It needs to be dealt with. As I don't know any more than that, we will wait for the process to happen.”
"I don't know if it's getting better or worse, or not. We are much more aware of the fact we have the protocol and to report it is a positive step. Of course, in a perfect world you would wish that is not needed. I don't know if it is getting better or worse but if it is fact and it did happen it needs to be dealt with and the punishment needs to be strong."
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Tottenham Hotspur 2 - 1 Brighton
26 December 2019 | Premier League
By Lee Clow
Tottenham returned to winning ways as they scrapped through to victory against Brighton on Boxing Day at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Goals from Harry Kane and Dele Alli secured Tottenham’s comeback having found themselves a goal down by at half time through Adam Webster’s header.
Having lost to Chelsea on the last game before Christmas, Tottenham looked for a response so they could keep up with the pace of the top four. Spurs thought they found themselves in front after eight minutes when Kane bundled the ball home, but VAR intervened and ruled the England captain offside in build-up of the goal.
The decision seemed to lift Brighton as they began to settle into the game and create some threating chances.
Much of the half-lacked creativity from either side but it was the away side who broke the deadlock. Following a free kick on the right-hand side, Webster found a half a yard of space in the box and rose highest to head home the opener. Frustration hit the home crowd as memories of the 3-0 defeat earlier this season between the two sides came to mind.
In the second half, Spurs came out with more energy and desire as they searched for an equaliser. It wasn’t long until they found it as Kane clinically fired home. There was more than a little luck surrounding the goal as Webster's clearance cannoned off Dale Stephens straight into Kane's path and, after the Spurs captain saw his initial drive repelled by Mat Ryan, the striker made no mistake by driving home the rebound. The goal was met by huge cheers by the home fans who were now screaming out for a winner to complete the comeback.
Jose Mourinho’s’ introduction of Christian Eriksen and Giovani Lo Celso gave Spurs some creativity and this paid off as Spurs found their second following a lovely pattern on play. Eriksen beautifully lifted a ball out to Serge Aurier who cut it back to Alli before lobbing Ryan first time with a moment of brilliance.
Tottenham held out well securing their victory keeping them in touching distance with 4th placed Chelsea who face Southampton at home.
After the game, Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho gave his thoughts on the game: "The first half, I wouldn't say bad, I would say a performance that is not separate from the previous result and defeat. There is always a relation. We needed to start well, but we didn't. The boys felt it but in the second half it was different, they brought everything they had to bring. We spoke about tactics, principles and the emotional side of it, and the second half was really good. If we hadn't won, the game I would have still had the feeling that the boys gave everything."
Brighton boss, Graham Potter also spoke after the game: "Disappointed to come away with nothing but there were lots of positives from the performance. It was an even game, we got into their box a few times and the intention, idea and effort was there. We have to take that frustration to Bournemouth in a few hours time."
What’s next?
Spurs take on struggling Norwich at Carrow Road on Saturday while Brighton face Bournemouth at the Amex on the same day.
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