Crisis over as Antonio hails battling Blues

CRISIS averted and all it took was two swipes of Marcos Alonso’s left foot.

The summer should have been a period for Chelsea to revel in last season’s title glory. Instead there have been difficulties round every corner, culminating in a shock home defeat by Burnley on the opening day.

Defeat at Wembley yesterday and dark clouds really would have started to hover over Stamford Bridge. But Chelsea did what champions do. They fought. And they were rewarded with this backs-to-the-wall victory.

Manager Antonio Conte said: ‘I saw fighters today. For sure, I saw a lot of positive things in a moment that was not easy for us with the suspensions and the injuries.

‘Don’t forget, Eden Hazard stays out. Despite this, to play against Tottenham away and to win is a fantastic result.

‘ We suffered during the game, but that’s normal. I think that we showed we were always dangerous in every moment.

‘Don’t forget last season, after 13 wins in a row, we lost 2-0 at Tottenham. Instead, today, I saw a lot of positives. We played with four new players from last season.

‘ In defence we replaced David Luiz and Gary Cahill with a young player in Andreas Christensen, and Antonio Rudiger with a second appearance. But we showed great desire to stay compact, not lose the balance.’

Alonso grabbed the plaudits for his two goals but Conte reserved special praise for Luiz, who was deployed in an unfamiliar defensive midfield role as the Chelsea manager shuffled his pack due to injuries and suspensions.

‘David played very well. It was an amazing performance from him,’ said Conte.

‘ He played with great experience, with great personality. I think he was a point of reference for the other players.’

While Conte left Wembley with a smile, opposite number Mauricio Pochettino will be desperate for his luck to change at the national stadium.

Spurs have lost eight of their last 10 games at Wembley, not a massive confidence-booster considering they are playing all their home games there this season.

In fairness to Tottenham, they did not deserve to lose, dominating the game for large periods.

But in many ways, that only contributes to the rhetoric that they are suffering from a Wembley hoodoo.

Pochettino, though, does not believe in witchcraft. ‘ Please. We need to stop (talking about a Wembley curse),’ insisted Pochettino.

‘I think today it was clear. If you love football and watch football, and want to watch the game again, you will see that Wembley was not the problem.

‘ We played better and created chances to score. But that’s football. We have to accept they were more clinical than us in front of goal.

‘ The opportunities we created, we didn’t score. But it’s only the beginning of the season and there are a lot of matches. If we play that way, we’ll win a lot of games in the future.

‘It doesn’t affect me. But I understand that we need to talk, everyone needs to talk. But I think the Wembley effect is not the reason we lost the game.

‘ The team played really well. It’s not fair to blame Wembley. For me, Wembley is one of the best places in the world. One of the best places to play football.’