Chelsea (Away) 29.11.2020

A point at Stamford Bridge was widely ridiculed on the Sky Sports commentary because of Tottenham’s record there, but a 0-0 result was another step in the growth of the team, who overtook Liverpool to regain top spot in the Premier League.

The team recorded a fourth successive clean sheet and while they failed to score for the first time since the first game of the season, they dealt well with long periods of pressure from the home team, who failed to make more of their possession of the ball.

Apart from a shot by Ziyech straight at Hugo from 20 yards in the first minutes, the best opening effort came from Spurs eight minutes in, when they broke out of defence as Aurier dis-possessed Werner and it ended up in the opposite penalty area with Bergwijn who shifted the ball and fired a shot over the bar. Chelsea’s first effort went in, as Rodon got caught on the ball and Aurier slipped allowing Werner a run in on goal and he curled it from the left around Lloris. Unfortunately for them, the linesman raised the flag and VAR confirmed he had been offside. 

From a Spurs corner, Sissoko had an air shot at the clearance, but Spurs won the second ball and Kane set up Aurier for a low 20 yard drive that Mendy had to dive full length to his right to push away. The corner had come from a Bergwijn cross that was cleared and was played to him when Tanguy Ndombele wriggled away from three players surrounding him.

The game settled into a pattern of over-hit passes being intercepted or going off the pitch as neither side dominated. Spurs did break again in the 26th minute, but as Bergwijn tried to play the ball across the box to his left for Ndombele, he slipped and the pass was cut out. At the other end Mount made space for a shot as he ran right to left, but he got under the ball and lifted it over the bar. A Ziyech foul on Sergio Reguilon brought a booking and a 25-yard free-kick, which Harry Kane blazed over the bar. For Chelsea, Chilwell nit a high and hopeful shot off target and Abraham flung a leg at a Ziyech cross that took the ball well wide.

As half-time approached, Chelsea were camped in the Spurs half, but could not create anything to threaten the Spurs goal.

They almost managed that in the second minute of the second half, when Ziyech’s cross found Werner, but he handled as he tried to control the ball to shoot from inside the box and the James crossed for Abraham, but he tried to glance a header in, but ended up putting it nearer the corner flag. After a trip on Ziyech by Bergwijn that earned the Dutchman a yellow card, the same pair created an opportunity, with the same result. James was cautioned when he tried to hold off Sergio and got his arm across the Spurs defender’s face and then Zouma followed him into the book for a foul on Tanguy Ndombele.

A clearance from a Chelsea corner almost led to a mix up between Kante and Mendy, with the keeper just managing to clear the ball 35 yards from his goal. It was a moment of pressing that had dropped off in the second half, as Chelsea dominated possession, but loose passing all round ensured that not a lot was happening to thrill the watching TV audience. A ball in behind Dier, who seemed to face away from the ball gave Abraham a chance, but he could only nudge the ball wide from close range.

Jose brought on Giovani Lo Celso for Ndombele, as he attempted to turn the tide of the Chelsea pressure. It didn’t work when Dier’s attempted cross-field pass was cut out and it came to Ziyech in a central position, but he got underneath it from 20 yards out and the ball ended up high in the stand. Spurs won a corner that Hojbjerg got to at the near post, lifting his header to the back stick, where Kane was beaten to it by James, at the cost of another corner. This one was headed out, but when Spurs tried to recycle the ball, Chelsea won it.

It took 80 minutes for a shot from Chelsea to trouble Hugo Lloris and when Mount ran forward to strike a low shot to his left from just outside the box, the Spurs captain got down to the ball with a strong wrist to divert the ball wide.  The Chelsea midfielder had been booked minutes before for a series of snide fouls – amazing that he squealed like a pig when tackled, but was quite happy to leave his foot in on late tackles on Spurs players.

A couple of minutes into injury time, a long high ball forward by Chelsea caught Rodon underneath it and his header back to Lloris wasn’t strong enough, allowing Giroud to latch onto it. The striker tried to cushion volley the ball over Hugo, but got it all wrong and it ended up straight in the keeper’s hands.

That looked like it was going to be the last until Zouma passed across the 25 yard line straight to Moura.  The ball was moved inside to Lo Celso, who had players running inside the area, but chose to dink the ball wide. It wasn’t really clear what he was trying to do, but that was the last opportunity and the final whistle came soon after.

It was a game that both sides seemed quite cautious in their approach and the lack of attempts on goal underlined that. Spurs seemed to run out of steam after half-time, but Chelsea’s use of the ball failed to open up the Tottenham back line, in which Rodon performed very well on his first start. 

Spurs looked content to hit on the counter-attack with a compact defensive attitude that caused Chelsea problems in coming up with the ingenuity to break them down.

A point put Spurs back above Liverpool, who got a draw yesterday, so four points from our last to games is a decent return. The same from the next two games might help get through the fixtures against who many think might be up there at the end of the season.

Spiky Mikey

–