Facing Tottenham has become a more difficult task for Chelsea and for every other team in the league over the last few years. Now, our bitter North London rivals even have a proven winner in José Mourinho as their leader, and they might be real contenders for the Premier League title, despite what Mourinho wants everyone to believe. (Ed.note: again with the little horses, José?)
As such, putting a dent to their title hopes yesterday, just as we did back in 2016, would have been great, especially as it would’ve also boosted our own chances of winning the league after a four-year gap. However Spurs were more than ready to play the typical “park the bus” tactics of their head coach, happy to settle for the point on the Stamford Bridge turf.
And so they did, the 0-0 scoreline reflecting how “tight” the game felt to those playing in it, including new Chelsea left back Ben Chilwell — who was a beneficiary of the aforementioned Chelsea win against Spurs in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, which confirmed Leicester City as Premier League champions).
“I spoke to a few of the Tottenham boys and we all felt it was pretty tight. It was on a bit of a knife-edge and needed a bit of brilliance from an individual to go and win the game.”
That missing “bit of brilliance” almost arrived not once, but at least twice for Chelsea. The always diligent Mason Mount came close with a long-distance shot that was pushed wide by the fingertip of Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Then striker Olivier Giroud, a late substitute, just failed to lob the ball over his compatriot in our last good chance of the match.
Still, it was very positive to see Chelsea being able to contain the counter-attacking threat of players like Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min, who have been in lethal form this season. That makes missing out on two points less of a bad deal, to be sure. Article here
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