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MOTD: Chelsea 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur

By on December 3, 2014

Chelsea are, as many big money clubs, accused of buying players not because they want them, but so their rivals can’t have them. When Tottenham Hotspur were splashing out their Gareth Bale money, sill relatively new the transfer market, they were about to sign Brazilian midfielder Willian from Russia – the deal looked all set and the player himself had already passed a medical. Until, this is, Chelsea came in at the last possible moment and due to Roman Abrahmovic’s connections, took Willian right out from Tottenham’s noses. And certainly, they almost benefitted just as much from Tottenham not having him than they did from simply benefitting from his presence.

Tottenham did actually look dangerous, but contributed much to their own downfall – Aaron Lennon failing to track back to mark Eden Hazard in the build-up to Chelsea’s first goal would not have been a mistake made by Willian, much more disciplined under Jose Mourinho. And while it was impossible for Willian to stand out among the likes of attacking depth Chelsea had, he fit in with the rest of Chelsea’s squad – disciplined and ruthless.

For, as a 3-0 scoreline might suggest, Chelsea weren’t all that dominant or brilliant. The chances they did get numbered roughly those which Tottenham did, but found the target four times for every time their opponents did. Chelsea struggled to maintain control, Tottenham in fact kept more than 61 percent of possession. Spurs’ chances largely originated from Lennon cutting inside and their midfielders knocking it around either with an end product of Harry Kane being slipped in behind or one of the midfielders having a go from around the outside of the area; exactly where Willian could have made a huge impact for Mauricio Pochettino’s side. Tonight, they lacked that ruthlessness and discipline Chelsea had.

The visitors at Stamford Bridge looked far better of the two sides in the opening quarter hour, with Kane heading onto the crossbar seven minutes. Soon after Kane got in down the left after picking the ball off of Gary Cahill, perhaps Chelsea’s one lapse the entire game, but failed to capitalize as his clipped effort skimmed inches wide of the far post. Alternatively, when Lennon made one mistake in giving Hazard too much time on the ball and committing too much in a rash challenge, Chelsea did made Tottenham pay. Hazard skipped around the tackle, then did a neat one-two with Didier Drogba, and before you knew it was tucking a finish in at the near post. This was one moment that flipped the match on its head.

The match was far from over, but nonetheless the goal unravelled Tottenham. They lost their discipline, and just three minutes later, that is the twenty-first minute, Hugo Lloris made a terrible clearance right to Eden Hazard forty-or-so yards out from goal. Hazard played it to Oscar, and Oscar slipped Drogba in right between Tottenham’s two center-backs – in seconds Drogba was smacking the ball into the back of the net with a near-post effort. Three minutes before Tottenham had been dominating, and still held a record of fifty-eight percent of possession, but were down 2-0 and the game was basically all but over. Chelsea don’t make a habit of throwing away many leads at all. Especially not against a Tottenham side all over the place, chasing in defense and flat in attack. Chelsea’s third through Loic Remy late on was only affirmative of their disciple.
Man of the Match: Eden Hazard

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.