TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0 (0) | CHELSEA 1 (1) |
Date : – 4th February 2021 | Kick off : – 20.00 |
Competition : – Premier League | Venue : – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium |
Crowd : – 0,000 |
Referee : – Andre Marriner (West Midlands) | Linesmen : – Mr. Scott Ledger; Mr. Simon Long |
Fourth official : – Andy Madley | |
VAR official : – Stuart Attwell | VAR Assistant : – Adam Nunn |
Weather : – Cold, heavy rain | |
Chelsea kicked off the first half attacking the Park Lane end | |
Playing time : – 90 + 7 minutes |
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | CHELSEA | ||
GOAL-SCORERS | |||
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Jorginho (p) 23m 42s | ||
CARDS | |||
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Alderweireld (foul on Mount) 50 | ![]() |
Pulisic (foul on Hojbjerg) 78 |
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Hojbjerg (foul on Jorginho) 63 | ![]() |
Kante (foul on Moura) 81 |
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Azpilicueta (foul on Son) 88 | ||
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TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | CHELSEA | ||
1. | Hugo LLORIS (c) | 16. | Eduoard MENDY |
24. | Serge AURIER | 28. | Cesar AZPILICUETA ![]() |
15. | Eric DIER | 6. | Thiago SILVA (4. Andreas CHRISTENSEN 36) |
4. | Toby ALDERWEIRELD ![]() |
2. | Antonio RUDIGER |
33. | Ben DAVIES | ||
24. | Reece JAMES | ||
5. | Pierre-Emile HOJBJERG ![]() |
5. | JORGINHO ![]() |
17. | Moussa SISSOKO | 17. | Mateo KOVACIC (5. N’golo KANTE 74 ![]() |
3. | Marcos ALONSO | ||
23. | Steven BERGWIJN (27. Lucas MOURA 69) | ||
28. | Tanguy NDOMBELE (11. Erik LAMELA 69) | 20. | Callum HUDSON-ODOI (10. Christian PULISIC 65 ![]() |
7. | Heung-Min SON | 19. | Mason MOUNT |
45. | Carlos VINICIUS | 11. | Timo WERNER |
Substitutes | Substitutes | ||
12. | Joe HART | 1. | Kepa ARRIZABALAGA |
2. | Matt DOHERTY | 9. | Tammy ABRAHAM |
6. | Davinson SANCHEZ | 18. | Olivier GIROUD |
25. | Japhet TANGANGA | 21. | Ben CHILWELL |
14. | Joe RODON | 22. | Hakim ZIYECH |
9. | Gareth BALE | 33. | EMERSON |
8. | Harry WINKS |
Manager : – Jose Mourinho | Manager : – Thomas Tuchel |
Kit Supplier : – Nike | Kit Supplier : – Nike |
Shirt Sponsor : – AIA | Shirt Sponsor : – 3 |
Colours : – ![]()
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Colours : – ![]() Royal Blue socks worn |
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website | |
MATCH REPORT
Another match against Chelsea. Another defeat. Only by the single goal, but that was all it took, as Tottenham didn’t look like scoring if they played all week. Ten seconds after kick-off, Azpilicueta played a long diagonal ball into the Spurs box and Werner got between two players to loop a header at goal that had Hugo Lloris looking worried as it went a foot wide of the angle of the post and crossbar. James also left an early marker on Tanguy Ndombele’s foot by stamping down on it, but it was hard for Tottenham to hold onto the ball in these early stages, with Chelsea looking sharper. Son did come in off the right wing to exchange passes with Vinicius to put a shot on target, but Mendy took it easily, as it was straight at him. Spurs looked to break away from a Chelsea corner, when Bergwijn took it a long distance, but when Vinicius got the ball stuck under his feet and the threat dissipated. With four men across the middle of the pitch, Spurs were finding themselves outnumbered and the main focus of Chelsea’s attack came up their right wing, with Davies often isolated against Hudson-Odoi and James. When we looked to play the ball up to Carlos Vinicius, he was up against at least two defenders and Rudiger forcing him into losing the ball. With the heavy rain before the game started continuing after kick-off, the ball seemed to be dragging on the surface, despite the pitch looking in really good nick. When you would expect that the ball would be zipping off the turf, it was a bit hit and miss when trying to judge the weight on a pass. Playing a long ball out of defence, Vinicius finally had space to bring the ball down and then play a cross-field pass to Ndombele on the left. With a little time on the ball, he drove a ball that looked like a cross, but ended up as a shot that Mendy took at head height. Spurs had held out for half of the first half and then a straight pass into the right hand channel of the Tottenham box and Werner and Dier went to ground, with the Spurs defender looking to clear the loose ball, Werner put his foot in the way and took the contact to win a penalty. Jorginho stepped up with his odd run (but without his weird hop) and put it past Lloris’ dive to his right to give Chelsea a lead that their possession had threatened. There was no out ball for Spurs, as any ball up to Vinicius came straight back and when there were opportunities to break forward, there were not enough Spurs players getting up in support of the man on the ball. All the time, we were being forced to play back and when that wasn’t the case, there was a foul on the Spurs man to prevent any progress. In contrast, the Tottenham press was half-hearted and subsequently there was space all over the pitch for Chelsea to play in. With Steven Bergwijn having to drop deep to defend, it stifled any move out of the back, with fewer players available to receive the ball. With the Spurs midfield playing so deep, there was plenty of opportunities for Chelsea to pass the ball around. Sloppy passing also halted any move up-field, but a foul on our right wing on Aurier gave us a free-kick and it was Aurier who got on the end of it, winning a header between two defenders, but he took his eye off the ball and headed it down, but a yard wide, when he should really have been looking to get it on target. Just before the half-time whistle, into two minutes of added time, Eric Dier produced a good block to stop Mount’s shot getting far and it made a half-time team talk a little easier for Mourinho, but there was much to get across to make things more offensive to give Chelsea problems to defend rather than the problems of which unmarked player to pass to. At the start of the second half, the rain was heavier and the ball sticking more as players tried to run with it. A cross from Davies early in the half caused Christensen to put it out for a corner, which was cleared by the visiting defence. They then tried to play the ball out from the back, with Mendy’s pass missed his target, but Jorginho won a free-kick when Son looked to take the ball away from him. While Mount was committing snidey fouls all over the pitch, Toby taking him out brought a yellow card, as Tottenham’s press was applied harder and further up the pitch. It seemed every time a blue shirt went down they were given a free-kick, while Marriner didn’t seem to think bringing Spurs players down deserved a blast form his whistle. There was still a lot of space for Mount to pick up the ball on the halfway line and break forward, slipping the ball into the box for Werner, with only Lloris to beat, but Serge Aurier came from nowhere to deflect the shot over the bar with a great piece of defending. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg picked up a booking for a late tackle landing on Jorginho’s foot, which was nothing different to James’ challenge on Ndombele in the first few minutes. Inconsistent ? You bet. Alonso fired a volley over as Spurs were struggling to put some passes together and Dier’s back-pass to Hugo led to him having to head the ball wide of the goal and while it went to Mount, it was wide enough not to cause any threat. Lloris had to be brave when a ball into the goalmouth looked like substitute Pulisic would get there first, but the skipper dived to punch the ball away with a boot close to his face. VAR even looked at the incident for a penalty, which was a joke. Spurs were once more getting opened up, with Kovacic the latest player to run unchallenged to get into the box and he panicked, flicking his foot at the ball rather than putting his foot through the ball, which ended up wide. Lucas and Lamela replaced Bergwijn and Ndombele, as fresh legs were introduced, but we were still open to attacks with one loose pass creating the opportunity for the visitors to make ground up the pitch. In the 75th minute, Mount got forward and tried to slip the ball past Lloris from the left side of the area, but Hugo dived to his left to push the ball well wide of the goal. Four minutes later, Lamela moved from the right side of the D, 20 yards out to a central position to try and curl a shot that forced Mendy to dive right to push it wide for a corner. Kante lost the ball to Lucas and then brought him down cynically, adding to the yellow card list, but it was worth it for his team, as the free-kick came to nothing. Moura turned Jorginho 25 yards out with five minutes left, but his shot was always rising over the Chelsea goal. A better chance came when Sissoko, Son and Aurier worked space on the right wing and Serge’s cross was met by Vinicius at the far post and he flashed his header a foot wide of the goal. That looked like the last chance, but Azpilicueta blocked Son’s run 28 yards out and a free kick in a central position was the result. Dier took it and curled the ball a yard wide, when a shot on target might have beaten the keeper, who looked to go the other way. It looked as though Chelsea might wrap it up with a second goal, when Werner came in from the left, but Eric Dier stood firm and took the shot on his body to keep it away from goal. The three minutes of added time saw Tottenham pass better with Lamela and Hojbjerg finding Son on the edge of the box and as he looked to let it run to Lucas, it came off Christensen’s heel and the Korean snatched at his shot, firing it over the bar. With West Brom coming to the THS on Sunday, a change in approach is necessary, otherwise the criticism of Mourinho will become even more high profile. Steve L |
MATCH NOTES
Serge Aurier makes his 100th Spurs appearance. |
OTHER RESULTS | |||
Leeds United | 1 | Everton | 2 |
Fulham | 0 | Leicester City | 2 |
Manchester United | 9 | South Coast Big Club | 0 |
Aston Villa | 1 | West Ham United London | 3 |
Sheffield United | 2 | West Bromwich Albion | 1 |
Newcastle United | 1 | Crystal Palace | 2 |
Burnley | 0 | Manchester City | 2 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2 | Woolwich Wanderers | 1 |
Liverpool | 0 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 1 |
Premier League Table 2020-21
Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Points | Goal difference | ||
1 | Manchester City | 21 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 39 | 13 | 47 | +26 |
2 | Manchester United | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 46 | 27 | 44 | +19 |
3 | Leicester City | 22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 39 | 25 | 42 | +14 |
4 | Liverpool | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 43 | 25 | 40 | +18 |
5 | West Ham United London | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 34 | 28 | 38 | +6 |
6 | Chelsea | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 36 | 23 | 36 | +13 |
7 | Everton | 20 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 31 | 25 |
36 | +6 |
8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 21 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 34 | 22 | 33 | +12 |
9 | Aston Villa | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 35 | 24 | 32 | +11 |
10 | Woolwich Wanderers | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 27 | 22 | 31 | +5 |
11 | Leeds United | 21 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 36 | 38 | 29 | -2 |
12 | South Coast Big Club | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 27 | 34 | 29 | -7 |
13 | Crystal Palace | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 27 | 47 | 29 | -10 |
14 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 31 | 26 | -8 |
15 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 22 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 24 | 29 | 24 | -5 |
16 | Newcastle United | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 22 | 36 | 22 | -14 |
17 | Burnley | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 28 | 22 | -15 |
18 | Fulham | 21 | 2 | 8 |
11 | 17 | 31 | 14 | -14 |
19 | West Bromwich Albion | 22 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 18 | 52 | 12 | -34 |
20 | Sheffield United | 22 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 14 | 35 | 11 | -21 |