Chelsea (Home) 01.11.2025

The game started with Lucas Bergvall getting hit on the side of the head at close range by the ball as Fernandez looked to hook it wide.  Lucas looked like he had taken a hard boxer’s punch as he struggled to stand up.  As the ref and the players were more interested in Neto rolling around after a tackle from Pape Matar Sarr, it took a few moments before they focused on our Swedish midfielder.  The physios came on and carried out a concussion test that Lucas didn’t do well in, moving his head rather than his eyes to follow the physio’s moving finger and he tried to maintain that he was fine to carry on.  Remonstrating with Rodrigo Bentancur, who suggested he should go off, he was eventually persuaded to leave the pitch.  Still he was fighting his corner to continue playing but after the physio has spoken to Thomas Frank and the manager spoke to Bergvall, did he accept that the substitution was going to be made and was escorted off down the tunnel.  So, seven minutes in, Xavi Simons came on and the game-plan already had to be altered.

Chelsea pressed with Spurs conceding three corners, which they defended well and then, with 20 minutes gone, there was another after Garnacho hit a shot from inside the left that took a deflection that forced Guglielmo Vicario to hold low down.  Tottenham then had a couple of corners of our own, but they were cleared and the second phase of the second corner was played into Sanchez’s hands – the first cross of many that resulted in easy claims for the Chelsea keeper.  Just before the half hour, Vicario went down injured halfway up the Spurs half while we won a corner.  Whether he had sustained a knock or whether it was a ruse to get set-piece advice, we will never know, but Fernandez wasn’t happy about it and chipped away at the referee.  It wasn’t good advice if that was the reason for the stoppage, as the corner was cleared for a throw and Kevin Danso’s long delivery went straight into Sanchez’s hands.  

Vicario continued his good form when Pedro Porro’s clearance close to the side-line hit Garnacho and rebounded favourably forward to Pedro, who was in the left corner of the box and tried to slide it low past the Spurs keeper, but Vic stuck out a leg to save with his knee as he came to close the striker down.  From that Danso took the ball forward, played it into Randal Kolo Muani’s feet and he pushed the ball wide right to Mohammed Kudus.  Coming inside, Mo flashed a shot from just outside the box that rose over the bar. 

Chelsea took the lead in the 34th minute when pressing Spurs on the ball at the back Caicedo won a tackle with Micky van de Ven, then managed to squeeze it square to Joao Pedro, who was in the middle of the box unmarked where he had time to take a touch and then sweep it past Vicario from eight yards out.  It was a poor goal to concede, being caught trying to play out.  This brought the usual abuse about the lack of the agricultural hoof up-field, but the system and style we play requires that we try to draw opposition players in and then play the ball around them, but that needs team-mates to make themselves available to break the press.  The lack of a player in space caused the hesitation that meant Micky got caught on the ball.

A route one ball nearly opened Tottenham up as our free-kick was claimed by Sanchez and he quickly kicked down the pitch, but Porro was alert enough to ease Neto off the ball as Vic came out to clear the ball.  The spurs goalie did even better a couple of minutes before half-time when Neto played gusto into acres of space on their right wing and his low ball into the box was hit first-time by Joao Pedro, having run off Danso.  From near the same spot from where he scored, the Chelsea forward could not believe that Vicario had managed to react and push the ball over the bar with his right hand.  

It all kicked off in added time at the end of the first half when Betnacur put in a bad tackle in James and that brought all the Chelsea players rushing in to cause a commotion and after the usual pushing and shoving and pulling away of players, it ended with yellow cards for Rodrigo and Chalobah.  Just before the half-time whistle, Randal Kolo Muani ran from the middle of the Chelsea half and released a pass to Kudus. Mo tried to find the opposite bottom corner, making Sanchez dive to his right to fumble the ball away, getting it far enough away to prevent Randal reaching it.

After the break, things didn’t get much better and it was only Vicario that stopped us suffering a hammering.  There was a glimpse of an opportunity five minutes in when Danso’s long throw bounced in the goalmouth and Bentancur just couldn’t react quick enough before the ball was cleared.  A few minutes later Fernandez headed  a cross over the top when he was well-placed to score and we had picked up a couple of yellow cards stopping forward moves by the blue shirts.  On the hour, Cristian Romero and Richarlison took the places of Danso and Bentancur.  Fernandez then got booked for a late one on Palhinha as Frank rang the changes further as Odobert, Johnson and Udogie were brought on for Xavi, Porro and Kolo Muani.  Not that it changed much, with Vic producing a good stop from Neto’s shot and James hitting a shot too high.

Spurs did get the ball forward for Johnson to run clear and with two in the middle the cross was cut off for a corner.  Like many before it was into the keeper’s hands.  Pushing for something from the game left us open at the back and Joao Pedro got away into the area and passed short to his left where Gittens came in only to fire over with the goal gaping in front of him.  Right at the end, Fernandez got space on the right and played the ball through for Joao Pedro to find lots of space in the box, so he took a touch and then shot at goal, with Vicario getting down to his left to push it wide as he continued his vendetta against the Chelsea forward to deny him adding to the score. 

I would say that the final whistle was a release from having to watch what passed for a football match, but it only brought more boos from the stands at the end of another home defeat were extreme, but probably justified, as it was a poor performance, but some fans stayed behind to boo Thomas Frank as he came around the pitch to applaud the crowd.  The much vaunted new atmosphere that was intended to be a positive had soon turned sour.  Personally, I was more disappointed with the performance than the result.  We never get anything from Chelsea, usually due to some dodgy decision in their favour, but this time, they were just better than us and for Thomas Frank to turn this place into a fortress, there is a lot of work to be done and a lot more energy need in the team’s movement.  When the opposition had the ball they had a couple of options available for passes, whereas we failed to have that luxury.  Players were not pulling the Chelsea defence around and that was why the moves ended up with the ball being played back all the time, as they were the only white shirts that were in space.  The press that Tottenham players were under forced turnovers and made putting any sort of move together, with the missing link being a number 10 that fills that divide between the forward line and the deep lying midfield.  Kolo Muani ploughed a lone furrow up top, with nobody close to him to receive a knock-down or to lay it off to when he held the ball up.  I agree with Frank that there is a whole new attacking unit, but without any cohesion between them, it is no surprise that we created so little.

With tough games in the rest of November and with December being a busy month, Spurs need to be fully functioning well before then, so the pressure is on on the training pitch as well as on the Champions League pitch when Spurs host FC Copenhagen.

• Brennan Johnson made his 100th Spurs appearance.
• Both teams wore poppies on their shirts.
• Both sides were able to use an extra substitute, as Lucas Bergvall suffered concussion and Tottenham brought on Xavi Simons as a concussion substitute.