Barney Ronay on Willy Caballero
Dominic Fifield was our man at Stamford Bridge. Here’s his verdict. Thanks for reading. That’s all, folks!
Mauricio Pochettino also talks to BT Sport. “It was an even game. In some situations they dominate, in others we dominate. They had one shot on target and scored, we had zero and so it was impossible to score. And impossible to draw. It wasn’t a great game to watch. They have a lot of quality but it was an even game. It was a bad night for us. The north London derby is a tough fixture for us, and then we have the Champions League. It’s good when you win, win, win, so when you lose and lose it’s important to be calm.”
Maurizio Sarri talks! “I think the performance was in line with the last one. But fortunately the result was different. The performance was really very similar to the one against Manchester City. Pedro is a very important player for us. He is dangerous, can score, but he is also good defensively and balances the team. I was sure before the match that the relationship with my players is very very good, and in the last month I think better. Caballero is a good goalkeeper with great experience. He is a great man and very important on the pitch and in the dressing room. We need consistency.”
Willy Caballero speaks. “Of course we are happy. It’s a great result for us after the last game, and I think now we have to enjoy it, because every game for us is a lot of effort. We defended fantastically. Every victory is important, to be a little bit closer to Tottenham. We are behind a lot of teams but we will recover well. Always a clean sheet is a satisfaction. We spoke about what happened the other day, and the very good news is that Kepa was fantastic today, he supported me, and he learned, and we are improving as a team.”
A poetic cry from the heart, courtesy of Dom CFK. “I must admit being a Spurs fan from a Spurs family breeds an odd kind of gallows fatalism, even in these more gallant times, so I’ve been expecting not only wheels to come off, but gaskets to be blown and engine blocks to explode in spectacular fashion. Like Grace Jones, pick the motoring metaphor for being shafted you prefer. But curiously for a while I’ve been wrong.
“However, something about the run of Burnley (suddenly OK after big doldrums), Chelsea (an exploding clown car of a club every day bar today no doubt) and The Arse (what week is it? well who knows) made my gut feel zero points from nine. And, especially with recent talk of title races and ‘cup finals’, I think it’s on.
“All I needed to see on the MBM was Pedro’s (Pedro!) smiling face as the picture header for confirmation. Glad to see Trippier finally making a contribution this season by burying one in his own net.
“We will probably have a frightening squeak through the Champions League next round, but then it’s stutters, splutters and fifth to look forward to, with the last game of the season being played in a car park in Chigwell to confirm we’ve scraped into the Europa League.
“Still, COYS.”
That’s a great result for Chelsea, who were by far the better team in the second half and thoroughly deserved their win. A great evening for Maurizio Sarri and the faultless Willy Caballero, too. The crowd celebrate accordingly. They’re still in sixth place on 53 points, but have a game in hand on fifth-placed Manchester United (55) and fourth-placed Arsenal (56). Worryingly for Spurs, who started the week thinking about the title, they’re now nine points behind leaders Liverpool, eight behind Manchester City ... and only four ahead of Arsenal. It’s going to be some north-London derby at the weekend!
FULL TIME: Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur
And that’s the final whistle! No big brawl this time, but Tottenham’s title hopes are now hanging by a very slender thread.
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90 min +3: Kane prepares to take a throw and gets into a childish tussle with Luiz. Both are booked for their playground nonsense.
90 min +2: A throw for Chelsea down the right. Pedro links arms with Rose. He’s enjoying the tussle, laughing and smiling. Rose has a sense-of-humour failure and shoves him back. Not hard enough to warrant censure, but enough for the Chelsea crowd to give him a bit of stick.
90 min +1: Rose has replaced Sissoko, by the way.
90 min: There will be three added minutes. They can’t tick round quickly enough for Spurs, who just want to head back north.
89 min: It’s difficult to work out who was more at fault, Trippier or Lloris. Should the keeper have hared out to the edge of his box to receive the backpass? Or should Trippier have looked up to see where his keeper was upon making it? Questions, questions, as we said all the way back in the preamble.
87 min: Down the other end, Cabellero celebrated that second goal with great feeling. He’s done little wrong tonight. To think all eyes were on him at the start of the game, and now look what’s happened to poor Lloris.
86 min: “It’s happened again. Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again.” Chelsea fans sticking in the knife and twisting hard, as Tottenham’s title challenge crumbles in farcical circumstances.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Trippier 84 og)
The ball’s launched long. Giroud flicks it on to nobody. Trippier, under no pressure whatsoever, just needs to roll the ball back to Lloris. But his keeper has sprinted out to the edge of the box. Trippier’s backpass rolls wide right of the keeper, and trundles comically into the unguarded net. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
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84 min: Higuain is replaced by Giroud. Then ...
83 min: Eriksen’s weak shot sails wide right. Cabellero was behind it all the way.
82 min: Tottenham are threatening to lose the rag. Kane thinks about engaging with Rudiger, then Sissoko chest-barges Azpilicueta, who to be fair was getting up in his grille. They could do with keeping their heads as they look for the equaliser - and late winner - they’re so desperate for.
80 min: Lucas Moura comes on for Son.
79 min: Trippier crosses from a deep position on the right. He’s looking for Kane, lurking near the right-hand post, but Azpilicueta is on hand to shepherd the ball back to Caballero.
77 min: Chelsea make their second change of the night. Kovacic is replaced by Loftus-Cheek.
76 min: Kante backs himself in a footrace with Alderweireld down the right, knocking the ball into space and then tearing after it. He just about wins it, then flicks it inside for Pedro, who in turn flicks down the inside-right channel. Higuain would have been clear on goal, but didn’t quite read Pedro’s intention and found himself in the wrong place, the ball bouncing harmlessly away from him. Would have been a cute move.
74 min: Trippier crosses again from the right. Llorente rises to compete, but Luiz slams a header clear.
73 min: Trippier crosses from the right. The ball finds Llorente, eight yards out, level with the right-hand post. It’ll be half a chance if he can take it down, but he lets the ball ping off his knee and out for a goal kick. Very poor.
72 min: Wide on the right, Pedro sends a speculative curler towards the top left. It’s not that far away. Willian then wins a corner on the opposite flank, though the resulting set piece is a waste of time. Chelsea are looking very comfortable right now. Spurs are doing nothing at all.
70 min: And that’s Lamela’s last contribution to the evening’s entertainment. He’s replaced by Llorente.
69 min: Spurs are looking very jittery at the moment. Sissoko has his pocket picked by Kovacic on the halfway line. Chelsea ping it around awhile. Lamela intercepts the ball, but then immediately falls over, skidding across the turf on his face. He even tries to smother the ball with his arms, in the hope of stopping Kante regaining possession, but can’t even achieve that. A slightly farcical episode.
67 min: Sissoko toils to earn a corner off Luiz out on the right. Alderweireld rises highest to meet the set piece, but under pressure from Alonso, can only eyebrow a weak header miles wide left.
65 min: This might not be Tottenham’s night. Davies crosses from the left. The ball’s dropping to Kane, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. It’s the sort of chance he slams home so often, but gets his body in the wrong shape and sends a soft volley squirting harmlessly left of goal.
63 min: Lamela and Son shuttle the ball into the Chelsea box from the right. Son slips a pass left for Eriksen, who drops a shoulder to make space to shoot. From nowhere, Pedro comes in from behind and strips Eriksen of possession with a stunning sliding tackle! Pedro then dribbles away from the danger zone. Sensational defensive work from the goalscorer!
62 min: Son threatens to dribble into the Chelsea box from the right, but he slows up and is quickly swarmed. Uncharacteristically ponderous play from Son.
60 min: Hazard, who has been quiet tonight, makes way for Willian.
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59 min: Eriksen, mindful that Spurs need to do something if their title hopes are to stay alive, has a dig from distance. The shot bobbles harmlessly wide left.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham Hostpur (Pedro 57)
Hazard, to the left of the centre circle, spreads play to the right for Azpilicueta, who shuttles it further down the wing for Pedro. Pedro dribbles hard into the area, drops a shoulder to nick past Alderweireld, and slams a shot towards the bottom right corner. The pace surprises Lloris at his near post, the ball flashing through his legs and in. On the touchline, Sarri celebrates with great feeling.
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56 min: Spurs show in the Chelsea box for the first time in a while. Lamela dribbles down the inside left and chips into the centre, but Rudiger had taken the pace off the ball and it’s an easy claim for Caballero.
55 min: Hazard drives fast and hard down the middle of the park. He’s got options either side, so Davies does extremely well to intercept just before Hazard can decide what to do. Hazard wanted a foul, but the ref’s simply not responsive to that sort of request this evening, so he might as well be whistling Dixie.
53 min: Jorginho clips a cute pass down the inside-right channel to release Higuain, who sashays into the box, draws Lloris, and chips daintily over the keeper and into the net. But it won’t count; he went a split second too early, and the offside flag springs up. Lovely finish, though.
52 min: It’s gone scrappy again. Luiz was a bit unhappy when Lamela clipped him late, but there wasn’t much in it and he didn’t get the foul.
50 min: Hazard sends Kante scooting down the right with a fine crossfield ball. Azpilicueta is fed on the overlap. The resulting cross is too high for Hazard. Chelsea have seen plenty of the ball in Tottenham’s final third since half time, but it’s not quite firing for them at the business end.
48 min: Chelsea have been on the front foot since the restart. Pedro dribbles down the left now, and is only just stopped from getting a shot away by the toe of Alderweireld. The ball breaks to Alonso, whose low snapshot is deflected away from danger.
47 min: Alonso, still getting pelters, sprays a wonderful left-to-right pass towards Pedro, who dribbles into the area then lays off for Higuain. The striker crosses to the far post where there’s ... nobody. The ball bobbles out apologetically for a goal kick. The crowd groan in unison.
46 min: No half-time changes, by the way. And it’s a fast start to the half as Higuain dribbles in from the left and pearls a shot from the edge of the box. Alderweireld blocks well.
Chelsea get the second half underway. With Manchester United and Arsenal both currently winning, 1-0 at Crystal Palace and 3-1 at home to Bournemouth respectively, the hosts will be desperate to keep up in the chase for fourth place. They’ll need to improve if they want all three points ... but then again so do Spurs. “Something’s been missing,” agrees Matt Dony. “What this game needs is more Clattenburg.”
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Both teams have hit the frame of the goal. It’s nearly kicked off once or twice. Other than that, it’s been a relatively quiet match so far by Chelsea-Tottenham standards. Plenty of time left yet.
45 min: Spurs have turned it up a notch. Son dribbles hard down the right, reaches the byline, and fizzes a low ball across the face of goal. Caballero fingertips it away from the lurking Kane. Chelsea eventually clear.
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44 min: Winks, 25 yards out down the inside-right channel, sends a spectacular looping shot over the fully extended Caballero and off the crossbar! That wasn’t far from dropping into the top left ... but had it been the necessary inch or two lower, the keeper probably had it covered. Though I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
42 min: Kane takes matters into his own hands by driving in the old-fashioned style down the inside-left channel. He takes a whack from the edge of the box but his shot is deflected out by Azpilicueta. The resulting corner is played out to Davies by the left of the D; his cross clanks off his boot and out for a goal kick, nowhere near any player on the park.
41 min: This match began in very entertaining fashion. It’s now descended into low-quality nonsense. Two-pass moves are at a premium, and neither set of fans sound particularly happy about it. An awful lot of groaning going on.
39 min: Kovacic, out on the left, rolls a pass inside for Kante, who takes a shot from the best part of 30 yards. It flies harmlessly over the crossbar.
37 min: Spurs slowly stroke the ball across the back. Chelsea eventually press, Pedro nicking the ball off Davies, but he’s penalised for some minor contact with the full-back. A wry smile spreads across his face.
35 min: Chelsea haven’t done much in attack for a while, and the crowd have quietened accordingly.
33 min: Sissoko shoots from the edge of the Chelsea box. It’s deflected towards Son, who has a go from a tight angle. His shot is blocked, but the ball sits up for Eriksen near the penalty spot. He slams it goalwards, but Caballero smothers excellently. That’s a save that’ll give him heart, though it wasn’t strictly necessary as the flag had gone up for offside against Son.
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32 min: Lamela slides in on a ponderous Jorginho. Chelsea bellow for a foul, but they’re not getting it, and soon enough Son is taking a shot from the right-hand corner of the box. It’s deflected off Luiz for a corner that comes to nothing. Chelsea were very unhappy about that non-decision; there had been a little contact. So much for calming everyone down.
30 min: Something of a lull, which is probably for the best as a few tempers were beginning to get frayed. “I’m a Chelsea fan and I hate hearing our own fans booing Alonso,” writes Lee Madden. “What do they think they’re achieving by booing one of our own players? It’s not his fault he’s been picked and it’s hardly going to help the team.”
28 min: Luiz bundles Son off the field out on the Spurs right. A free kick, and a chance for Chelsea to load the box. Trippier curls a fine ball towards Kane, ten yards out, but Caballero comes off his line to punch clear with great purpose. Rudiger becomes collateral damage, caught in friendly fire, but that was good keeping, and the defender’s soon back up anyway.
26 min: Just before that brouhaha, Eriksen had slipped a pass down the right for Son, who nearly tore free into the box. Alonso came across to intercept and clear, fine defending that wasn’t particularly appreciated by anyone, as he continued to get dog’s abuse seconds after.
24 min: From the restart, Sanchez launches it long in the sporting fashion towards Caballero. Luiz chests it down instead, at which point Kane competes for the ball. Once play stops again, Azpilicueta takes issue with Kane, and the pair have a nose-to-nose debate about manners. The ref eventually calms everyone down. Sort of. This is bubbling up nicely.]
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22 min: Trippier challenges Hazard for the ball on the halfway line, and takes an accidental one in the coupon. He goes down. The ref doesn’t stop the game, and Hazard dribbles off down the left, but then he decides to turn and put the ball out of play for a throw. Trippier gets a little treatment. He’s OK.
20 min: Chelsea really should be leading. Lloris plays a laughably bad pass out to the left, and it’s easily intercepted by Pedro, who tries to tee up Hazard on the edge of the box. But Hazard has his back to goal; Higuain coming in a little deeper and facing the right way, would have been a better option. Hazard cushions the ball, teeing it up for Higuain, who curls wide left when looking for the top corner. He really should have scored. Hit the target at least. Lloris gets away with it.
18 min: Hazard tries to burst clear down the left but is crowded out. The ball breaks back to Alonso, on the edge of the box; he hits a first-time cross towards Pedro, but gets it all wrong, the ball flying out of play to the right of goal. The Chelsea fans have been giving the out-of-form Alonso a bit of stick, so that went down well.
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16 min: Sissoko clips Kovacic to the floor, a little late to the ball. Kovacic isn’t particularly happy about that one, but the referee doesn’t care. This is keenly contested, as you’d expect.
14 min: Chelsea have a reasonable shout for a penalty, as Azpilicueta whils a cross in from the right, and the ball slaps against Eriksen’s arm, which isn’t in a particularly natural position. And there was a bit of distance between the pair. But it’s not clear cut enough for the ref to point at the spot. File under that old cop-out Seen Them Given. The ball pings out for a corner, which drops to Kovacic on the edge of the box. His speculative bicycle kick flies way off target.
12 min: The referee Andre Marriner is letting quite a few dubious challenges go. Kante clips the back of Son: no foul. Lamela bundles into Alonso: no foul. Let’s hope this doesn’t boil over into a hilarious 2016-style bench-emptying brawl that spills down the tunnel, eh kids.
10 min: This is nice and open. Kovacic should have released Hazard down the middle with a simple pass, but he clunks it too far in front of his team-mate and a glorious opportunity is spurned. Then Pedro dribbles with purpose down the left and reaches the byline, but can only send the ball dribbling into the arms of Lloris at the near post.
8 min: Eriksen sends Kane away down the left, but he’s ushered towards the wing by Rudiger. Kane still manages to hook a cross into the Chelsea box, but Luiz is there to slam clear.
6 min: Higuain hits the post! Sissoko doesn’t deal with a high ball on the edge of his own area. It drops to Higuain, who hits across the ball and sends a fine effort curling towards the right side of the goal, with Lloris totally flat footed. But it caroms off the woodwork and away. Spurs pile up the other end, Kane having a shot from distance. It’s blocked. This is already a lot of fun.
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5 min: Alonso blooters the free kick straight into the wall. The ball breaks into the middle of the Spurs box, but there’s nobody in blue anywhere near, and Spurs clear.
4 min: But then Chelsea win another free kick near the Spurs box, Kovacic dropping a shoulder down the inside-right channel, cutting inside, and drawing a foul from Winks. This is in a much more dangerous position.
3 min: Hazard’s delivery is uncharacteristically poor, his inswinger failing to beat the first man Trippier.
2 min: Chelsea get a meaningful touch. Rudiger tries to release Hazard down the left. Not quite. But Alonso wins a free kick off Sissoko, and it’s a change to load the box.
And we’re off! Spurs get the party started. Son and Davies combine well down the left to earn a throw deep in Chelsea territory. Good position to fling the ball into the mixer, but they opt to stroke it around awhile instead, and soon enough it’s back at the feet of Lloris. Chelsea yet to get a meaningful touch.
The teams are out! A classic aesthetic with both teams wearing their first-choice gear, Chelsea in royal blue, Spurs in lilywhite. And it’s a classic London derby atmosphere to match, with Stamford Bridge jumping under the lights. “That’s a pretty attacking bench Sarri has named,” observes Neal Butler. “I’m a bit concerned that Alonso is starting, and there are no full-backs on the bench; but then again, Sarri wouldn’t use them. I predict Willian on for Pedro, Barkley for Kovacic, and Giroud for Higuain at some point around the 70 minute mark, barring injury.” Squinting really hard to read between the lines here, but I sense the jaded certainty of a supporter who has seen it all before. Anyway, just enough time for a quick snatch of the Harry J All Stars, and we’ll be off any minute!
More from Sarri: “I think Willy Caballero is ready, he has very good experience. We are not to worry about him.” Mauricio Pochettino also speaks to BT Sport: “Jan Vertonghen felt a problem in his hip yesterday. We hope that it is not a big issue and he can be available for the next game.” And finally a little bit from Harry Kane: “It’s a London derby, we;ve had some great battles with Chelsea this season and over the past few years. So it’ll be the same again tonight. Obviously both teams will want to bounce back from the weekend, so it’s down to us to play our style and try to get the three points.”
“There are consequences.” We shouldn’t be particularly surprised that Sarri’s dropped Kepa. Here he is yesterday, dropping a fairly obvious hint.
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Here’s Chelsea’s two keepers going through their pre-match warm-up. Everyone getting along just fine! There’s nice.
Maurizio Sarri, straight to the point as ever, explains his decision to drop Kepa. “It’s a choice. It’s a message for my group. That we are a group, and not 25 players. It’s my choice.”
So there’s our answer: Maurizio Sarri has dropped Kepa Arrizabalaga, all £71m of him, to the bench. That’s punishment for the keeper’s brazen insubordination at Wembley towards the end of the League Cup final against Manchester City. Pent-up penalty expert Willy Caballero takes his place ... at long last. That’s one of four changes made by Chelsea. Marcos Alonso, Mateo Kovacic and Gonzalo Higuain take the places of Emerson, Ross Barkley and Willian.
Spurs meanwhile make four changes of their own from the XI who went down at Burnley on Saturday. Keiran Trippier, Davison Sanchez, Ben Davies and Erik Lamela step up; Danny Rose, Juan Foyth, Serge Aurier and Jan Vertonghen make way.
The teams
Chelsea: Caballero, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, Pedro, Higuain, Hazard.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Barkley, Loftus-Cheek, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi, Willian, Christensen.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Davies, Winks, Sissoko, Eriksen, Lamela, Son, Kane.
Subs: Rose, Wanyama, Llorente, Foyth, Gazzaniga, Aurier, Lucas Moura.
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands).
Preamble
Will Tottenham close the gap on Liverpool and Manchester City? Will they register back-to-back league wins at Stamford Bridge, having ended a 28-year wait for a victory here last year? Can they complete a league double over Chelsea for the first time since 1971? Will Chelsea bounce back from League Cup final misery to reclaim a place in the top four? Will this descend into a wild brawl like it did in gloriously entertaining fashion when Spurs ran out of title gas in 2016?
Questions, questions. Though to be honest, the only one anyone’s really worried about is this: will Maurizio Sarri pick stubborn netminder Kepa Arrizabalaga after his theatrically bolshie display at Wembley last Sunday? We’ll soon find out! Teams coming soon, after which ... it’s on!
Kick off: 8pm GMT.
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