TO VICTOR THE SPOILS
Spurs’ Bridge of pain again as Moses strikes to keep Chelsea top of league
SO 29 fruitless visits to Stamford Bridge becomes 30 — and 1990 remains the benchmark performance on this ground for Tottenham, the last time they won here.
Spurs did at least score and, in current form, that counts as a small victory against Chelsea, the first goal Antonio Conte’s side have conceded in the Premier League for six games. But it was hard to shake off the memory of the meltdown Tottenham suffered when they lost both their crack at the Premier League title and their heads here back in May.
It felt that the hard lessons learnt that night were underscored yesterday evening; this Tottenham side remains a little short of knowhow and quality. Not far short. They demonstrated many moments of quality in the first half and they will go close at times in competitions.
But re-enforcements look necessary if they are to be the side that becomes a regular Champions League participant. And, right now, no-one surpasses Conte and his Chelsea side. They can win with a flourish, as they did recently against Manchester United and Everton; they can tough it out on inhospitable away trips, as they did at Middlesbrough; and they can come from behind, redress the balance of play, when asked serious questions.
It’s as far as could be imagined from last season. They continue to flourish, with Pedro and Victor Moses, their goalscorers yesterday, players reborn by the warm embrace of their Italian manager’s love and belief.
Both were excellent yesterday. And in Diego Costa, outstanding in the second half, and David Luiz, they have a worldliness that secures victories.
History suggested it would be frenetic and fierce and the early exchanges between Eric Dier and Costa confirmed as much. But there was a dash of quality as well, and early on most of it came from Spurs.
Where there had been inertia in Monaco, here there was energy unbounded. Tottenham looked a different proposition to the team that exited the Champions League with a curious lack of passion on Tuesday night.
Rather, this was more like the side which had overwhelmed Manchester City earlier in the season, with Victor Wanyama muscling his way to domination in the midfield, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli making darting, creative runs, Harry Kane a constant nuisance and Kyle Walker indefatigable.
Tottenham even had the ball in the net after five minutes, via Kane, but had the effort ruled out, with several Spurs players having ventured offside as Eriksen swept over his delightful free kick.
Yet they had started the brighter, on the front foot, and confirmed their momentum in the 11th minute, when Eriksen picked the ball up 20 yards out from a Dele Alli pass. It seemed harmless but Eriksen saw a gap which Chelsea hadn’t covered. He unleashed a ferocious strike, off the edge of his boot, spinning away from Thibaut Courtois, to open the scoring.
Chelsea looked somewhat affronted. But they couldn’t wrest back control of the game.
Wanyama shot wide on 23 minutes, Kane wriggled past defenders to force a sharp parry from Courtois on 33 minutes and a delightful cross- field ball from Son Heung-min found its way to Eriksen via Walker, only for the Dane to shoot over.
As for Chelsea, they were confined to a Luiz free kick, which Hugo Lloris gathered on 30 minutes and Eden Hazard cleverly intercepting a misplaced clearance that almost embarrassed the goalkeeper on 42 minutes.
Still, when the equaliser came it was exceptional; against the run of play, and hardly reflective of Chelsea’s first half, but a joy to watch nonetheless.
Nemanja Matic fed Pedro and though Mauricio Pochettino will be agitated at the amount of space he was afforded, the control, little drag-back, turn and exquisite strike, curling into the top corner from 20 yards out, was outstanding. Pedro sprinted to the bench so fast he ran straight past the celebrating Conte; but the pleasure of all was clear to see.
Pochettino would have ve been even more con- cerned about the way Chelsea took the lead in the 51st minute. With Tottenham losing the ball cheaply in midfield, Chelsea swept upfield with Costa charging g down the left and cuttingng inside.
In their dash to recover, S Spurs had gravitated to the player and ignored the spacious gaps opening up on the opposite flank. So when Costa cut the ball back for Moses, he had time and space to make his strike. He did so admirably and though Lloris got a foot to it, he could only deflect the ball into the body of Jan Vertonghen, who diverted the ball over the line. Chel- sea were suddenly in the ascendancy and with Costa a bundle of trouble, they should have extended their lead three minuites later. He bu burst down the right this time and pulled the ball ba back for Marcos Alonso, who lifted his clear strike from close range wastef fully over the crossbar. Tottenham, as in last s season’s 2-2 draw when t they had been two goals up up, looked a little stunned by t the comeback. The They took their time to respondd with Kane picking up a loose ball on 64 minutes and managing to pull it back into the path of Eriksen, but he could only volley into the arms of Courtois. When Kane fed Alli on 72 minutes, he skewed his finish well wide of the near post; no matter, as the offside flag was raised, though replays made that look to be in error. They needed much more to break that jinx.