Sorry Spurs help Chelsea put cup calamity behind them

WHAT said it all for Tottenham Hotspur, beyond the pained facial expressions, was that it didn’t actually matter who Chelsea had in goal.

They didn’t trouble Willy Caballero anyway. By contrast, it looked like all of the furore around the club and manager greatly mattered to the Chelsea players.

They simply outfought Spurs in a fine 2-0 win, with the fact the key first goal came from Pedro taking advantage of a positioning error from Hugo Lloris adding a further twist.

The Tottenham goalkeeper could then only watch as Kieran Trippier put the ball past him for a ludicrous own goal to seal the game.

This was the kind of farce that was supposed to be happening to Chelsea of late.

Instead, they offered the response Maurizio Sarri would have wanted.

In this match they proved the manager’s statement that all of the controversy from Sunday actually brought them together; strengthened the Italian’s hold on the job.

This, by contrast, was anything but the response Mauricio Pochettino would have wanted. That makes it two defeats in a row, after the loss to Burnley at the weekend, and they are suddenly the big London side that look to have the most immediate problems.

Saturday’s north London derby is now so much more meaningful, because Arsenal are within four points of Pochettino’s side.

Sarri’s decision to drop Kepa Arrizabalaga as punishment for Sunday’s “misunderstanding” by then didn’t seem that meaningful at all.

It had no impact on the game, beyond all the coverage and context maybe firing Chelsea. Caballero didn’t even face a proper shot on target.

He didn’t actually have to do anything at all until the 22nd minute, but that did emphasise that he was standing firm. Literally.

There was then a strong punch clear on 27 minutes, before coming out bravely for a one-on-one as the ball ricocheted around the box moments later.

The flag was up so it didn’t go down as a shot on target, but did go down as one of the game’s more ironic moments.

The ball was hit so strongly that it actually winded Caballero, leaving him on heap on the ground. What happened next?

He signalled that he was fine to stay on. You could see that one coming.

Pedro’s goal displayed a supreme persistence, as the Spaniard so easily surged past Toby Alderweireld and powered the ball through Lloris.

Against that, it was little wonder that Pochettino resorted to the most rudimentary approach in football: bringing on the big man – Fernando Llorente introduced with 20 minutes to go.

It wasn’t like they were getting much service to him, though, so Pochettino had to bring on Lucas Moura too. That was for Son Heung-min, showing how bad things were for Spurs.

It then got worse, as Trippier and Lloris got caught in that awful mix-up.

There were only pained expressions from the Spurs players.

There was a defiant show of togetherness from the Chelsea players, and not just in celebrating the goal.

Everything at Stamford Bridge suddenly looks in better hands. Spurs, meanwhile, need to get a proper handle on things. (© Independent News Service)