Dele delivers and Chelsea are history
Mauricio Pochettino stayed until every one of his players had left the field.
He let Dele alli and Mousa Dembele perform one of those endless, daft hand-gesture celebrations, waited for alli to run the length of the field to present his shirt, scrunched up, to a fan and paused for Son Heung-min to seek out and acknowledge the supporters with the South Korean flag.
Pochettino knew the importance of this win for Tottenham. Huge, the biggest of the season. Bigger than real Madrid, now we know how far it got them, bigger than the back-to-back League wins over Manchester united and arsenal.
This wasn’t just a game, it was a game-changer, for Tottenham and chelsea. Barring a spectacular collapse in the final two months — and whatever jokes have been made at Tottenham’s expense, they are too good for that — this result places a metaphoric ocean between these teams in terms of where they appear to be heading.
Tottenham back to the champions League for the third straight campaign, and their first at the new White Hart Lane; chelsea to the Europa League at best, with all the uncertainty such a failing introduces.
Will they be able to keep Eden Hazard while out of the champions League? They probably won’t be working with antonio conte beyond the summer. as for the squad, how will it be shaped from here? What will a new manager make of Victor Moses’ lapses at full back, will he persevere with andreas christensen or demand a finished article in his place?
Moses was at fault for the first Tottenham goal, christensen should have cleared when alli added the third, killing the game and chelsea’s League season unless a battle for Thursday night football is floating any boats.
This is the win that establishes Tottenham as London’s leading club right now — and at chelsea the bloodletting begins anew. So
Pochettino counted them all out and counted them all in again. He knew the importance of Spurs holding their nerve in what was, for long periods, a very even game against a team with an enviable record in this fixture.
it was 1990 when a Gary Lineker goal last gave Spurs victory over chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and this stadium was the scene of the most horrid humiliation of the Pochettino era, the ill-disciplined denouement to the 2015-16 season.
This felt like a watershed, certainly for football in the capital. The odd result might go against them, but Spurs have been travelling in a different direction to arsenal for several seasons now.
chelsea, though, are obstinate. chelsea are winners. They have the one thing Tottenham do not possess, still. Trophies. Yet if Pochettino and his players can stay together, they could reverse that trend. The two sides may contest this season’s Fa cup final. a trophy for Spurs at chelsea’s expense would be far from unimaginable if that happened.
Yet for conte and his players it started so positively. They were organised, excellent on the counter-attack and should have gone in at half-time a goal ahead.
Hugo Lloris is many things, but he is not anthony Joshua. With another four inches or so he might have done enough to divert Moses’ 29th-minute cross. Might. Even with the height of a heavyweight champion, however, that cannot be guaranteed. He was very short of dealing with chelsea’s opener.
and that was a big mistake, because chelsea are the headed goal specialists in the Premier League. When alvaro Morata scored, it was their 14th of 2017-18, two more than any other club.
antonio rudiger hit his favourite crossfield ball, deep left to forward right. it picked out Moses in enough space to execute a tempting cross. Lloris took the bait and came. He didn’t get near. He needed a pogo stick, or stilts.
The ball fell to the player who lives for those chances. Morata can be frustrating, spending so much time on the floor he could be nicknamed ‘underlay’ — say it with a Spanish accent, like Speedy Gonzalez — but he knows what he’s about when a cross comes in.
Yet the moment Tottenham equalised in first-half stoppage time, the momentum changed. as against Barcelona, sloppiness changed the complexion of the game for chelsea. Tottenham had been repelled by a tight defensive line, then Moses decided to try something dangerous — a flick from deep on the right, over two Tottenham players, to Willian.
The pass didn’t make it. Worse, it was recycled to christian Eriksen — Tottenham’s most likely scorer. His shot was a pearler, shifting, somehow dropping over Willy caballero who was barely off his line. Maybe he thought it was going high; maybe he was bamboozled.
Tottenham emerged a different team in the second half and were well worth their win by the end.
Like a man with a point to prove — which, let’s face it, he is — it was Alli whose coolness in front of goal encapsulated what set them apart. In the space of four minutes, he steered Tottenham out of sight.
When Eric Dier played a sweet through ball on 62 minutes, Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta let Alli split them with a curving run. It left him with only Caballero to beat, which he did with a calmness that belied his 21 years.
He had some help with the next. Son made a furious run down the right, but Chelsea had chances to clear. Caballero was scrambling, Christensen and Alonso air-kicking. Alli resolved it all for them; that and several other issues, too.