Spurs topple Blues
Alli’s headers snap Chelsea’s 13-game winning streak
In-form midfielder Dele Alli scored two near-identical headers as Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea 2-0 on Wednesday to torpedo the Premier League leaders’ hopes of a record 14th consecutive victory.
Chelsea were bidding to become the first team to win 14 successive games within the same English top-flight season, but Alli’s goals, both set up by Christian Eriksen, brought them down to earth.
“We were competitive against a team in very good form, one of the best in Europe, and we feel very proud and pleased because the performance was very solid,” said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Antonio Conte’s Chelsea must content themselves with having equalled Arsenal’s season record of 13 wins in a row from 2001-02 and they remain five points clear of Liverpool.
But the end of their winning streak will give hope to their pursuers, not least Tottenham, who rose above Manchester City and Arsenal to third place in the table.
“It is a pity to stop this run, but Tottenham is a good team, and I think one of the teams that can fight for the title until the end,” Conte told Sky Sports.
Alli, 20, has now scored braces in three successive games and his latest double allowed Pochettino’s men to register a fifth win in a row — their best such run in nearly a year. Spurs saw most of the ball, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose carrying the fight, but they struggled to pick holes in Chelsea’s rearguard and the visitors posed a threat on the break.
In the fifth minute, Nemanja Matic’s lofted pass over Spurs’ centre-back Eric Dier found Eden Hazard in ample space, only for the Belgian to shoot narrowly wide with his left foot.
Victor Wanyama and Eriksen sent low efforts wide from range for Spurs and when the hosts finally got in behind, Dier ghosting in to meet Rose’s deep freekick, Thibaut Courtois was on hand to save.
But in first-half injury time, Spurs struck, Eriksen shaping a cross into the box from the right and Alli, hitherto close to anonymous, leaping to plant a header in the top-right corner.