Some player ratings
Here’s Dave Hytner’s match report from Stamford Bridge
Here’s Jose Mourinho
“First half they were the best team. We have to blame ourselves for both goals. In the second half we were much better, but then we lose a player and to have one player less against a team that has very, very good technical players is difficult.
“I hope that Rudiger recovers quickly from the broken ribs, because for sure he will have a few broken ribs, and that was a crucial moment of the game. For me, that red card is a strange one, but I don’t want to focus on that because my team lost and I have to be complimentary to the opponent and congratulate them.
“They started better than us. They used a system where some of their players are very, very comfortable – Kane, Azpi, Alonso, Willian. That’s why I tried to change at half-time. They played very well, but the reality of the game is that we conceded from a short corner – our players were not concentrating – and a penalty.
“Against Everton, Son was crying because of what happened to Andre Gomes. Now he is crying because he broke a few of Antonio Rudiger’s ribs.
“I saw the referee follow the protocol [regarding racism], and of course our club will deal with it because every club is together on this situation. We are disappointed but the protocols were followed.”
Post-match interviews
Cesar Azpilicueta
“Amazing. It feels very good for us, for the fans, to come here and win after the run we have had. We prepared very well in the week, and we knew we had to rediscover our fighting spirit. We fought and then we played some very good football. We kept a clean sheet as well, and we are very happy about that.
“We have been told to report any racist abuse to the referee. Tony told me there had been some racist songs towards him, so I told the referee straight away and left it to him to do his job. We are very concerned and very aware of this behaviour, and all together we need to stop it. It’s an issue in life, not only football.”
Willian
“I’m happy with the two goals but the most important thing is to win the game. We did a brilliant job today. We know how difficult it is to play against Tottenham, but the team was perfect mentally. Now we have to stay at that level – we can’t go up and down, up and down.”
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Here’s more on the racist abuse of Antonio Rudiger
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“Hi Rob, just wanted to point out that to Mike Mackenzie that picking Baresi as someone who would have got multiple VAR red cards is a terrible choice,” says Giovanni Pisoni. “I’m no AC Milan fan, but you just can’t touch Franco: he was the ultimate elegant, clean defender. I’d say you’ve barely seen him in action.”
Yes, that’s a very fair point. Claudio Gentile, on the other hand, would regularly have been sent off in the warm-up.
Frank Lampard is celebrating wildly in front of the Chelsea fans. He deserves every last clench of the fist, because his young team played with so much maturity and class. It was a hammering.
Full time: Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Chelsea
Peep peep! Chelsea move six points ahead of Spurs after a quite outstanding performance. It was an unmitigated triumph for Frank Lampard, whose 3-4-2-1 formation worked even better than it had in his imagination. Willian scored both goals, and Chelsea were in control long before Son was sent off for a petulant kick at Rudiger. Alas, the story of the game will be the racist abuse towards Rudiger that occurred soon after.
90+7 min A half-chance for Kane, whose shot has the sting taken out of it by the lunging Tomori before being comfortably saved by Kepa.
90+5 min “I suspect that had VAR been used back in the day in Serie A, then Franco Baresi would have set a record for red cards,” says Mike MacKenzie. “And other famous Italian CBs wouldn’t have been far behind.”
There would surely have been at least one great VAR-fixing scandal as well.
90+3 min Willian plays a stunning pass into space for Batshuayi, who moves to the edge of the area, comes back omto his left foot and smashes a shot just wide. Willian, one of Jose Mourinho’s favourite players, has had an absolute stormer.
90+2 min Spurs again appeal for a penalty because of manhandling at a corner, this time by Alonso on Alli. I’m not sure why that wasn’t checked by VAR, as Alonso could have had few legitimate complaints had a penalty been given.
90+1 min There will be eight minutes of added time because of all the VAR and racism stoppages.
90 min “Would an abandonment actually be a bad thing?” says David Wall. “Perhaps that is what it is going to take to finally make some of these idiots get the message.”
No, it wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. But I do wonder where it all leads, because a lot of racists won’t get the message regardless.
89 min Willian surges down the left and crosses deep to James, who takes the ball down on his chest and hits an acrobatic shot that is blocked superbly by Alderweireld.
88 min Eriksen’s free-kick is headed behind by Batshauyi. Chelsea break devastatingly from the Spurs corner, with Willian flicking a pass over the top to find the marauding Kante. He comes back onto his left foot and is about to shoot when Eriksen makes a vital interception.
87 min: No penalty
86 min Zouma is penalised for a trip on Dele Alli, this far outside the area. VAR are checking for a penalty, but I doubt this will be overturned.
85 min The racism will overshadow an immense performance from Chelsea, who came into the match in dreadful form. Frank Lampard switched to a back three and it worked like a dream. The key was the performance of the two attacking midfielders, Willian and Mason Mount.
84 min Here’s a short report from the news wires on the racist abuse of Anonio Rudiger:
There was a stadium announcement after 75 minutes saying that “racist behaviour among spectators is interfering with the game”.
Stills from Sky Sports of Rudiger appeared to suggest he was claiming a fan made a monkey gesture towards him.
83 min The match is petering out. It’s been a miserable day for Spurs, and for humanity. We’re not far away from a Premier League match being abandoned because of racism.
82 min I’ve just remembered that Son is my Fantasy League captain. Well done, Bobby!
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81 min “Son can have no complaints really,” says Niall Mullen. “With the possible exception of being stuck, during his peak years, with a manager who just wants to watch the world burn.”
80 min Michy Batshuayi replaces Tammy Abraham, who has run himself into the ground. While that is happening, replays show Rudiger signalling to his captain Cesar Azpilicueta that there had been monkey chants towards him. Azpilicueta then comes off to be replaced by Reece James.
79 min “VAR 25 years ago would have been an absolute treat,” says Stephen Carr. “Roger Milford constantly rewinding a cassette with footage of Duncan Ferguson throttling Steffen Freund to see if it constitutes a telling off.”
Imagine breaking the news to the Butcher of Bilbao that a man with a state-of-the-art Betamax had deemed his tackling to be somewhat overzealous.
78 min Rudiger is booked for taking out Sanchez.
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77 min Aurier appeals for a penalty after being held by Kante at a corner. He had a case, though VAR decided it wasn’t a clear and obvious one.
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75 min “How long before ad breaks during VAR checks...?” asks Richard Coopey.
Lordy, I hadn’t thought of that. It’ll happen one day; of course it will.
74 min Spurs make a double change, with Tanguy Ndombele and Danny Rose replacing Jan Vertonghen and Lucas Moura.
73 min “If that had been a push with the arm with the same force, it’s never a red,” says Gareth Rogers.
Agreed. But you don’t have studs on your hands, do you.
72 min Apparently that earlier break in play was caused not by a cup of water being thrown at Kepa, but because of a racist remark towards Anthony Rudiger after Son was sent off. For heaven’s sake. For heaven’s effing fucking sake.
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71 min Chelsea are content to pass the clock down, hence the introduction of Jorginho. They have done an emphatic number on Spurs today. In fact this has probably been their best performance under Frank Lampard.
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70 min “Somewhere,” says Niall Mullen, “Mark van Bommel is having a little chuckle to himself.”
69 min “Yeah probably,” says Phil Podolsky of the great Porto/Chelsea debate that has captivated twos of people (see 59 min). “But then Porto didn’t have to deal with a Barcelona featuring peak Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto’o.”
Or a Liverpool featuring Traore, Biscan, Baros and Nunez.
68 min Jorginho replaces the excellent Mateo Kovacic, who has become a serious player for Chelsea in the last few months.
66 min Alderweireld is booked for something or other. Spurs are experiencing a collective loss of noggin.
65 min There’s a break in play, I think because something has been thrown from the crowd. Yes, something was thrown at Kepa. He then appealed to the home fans for sanity, at which point a small boy looked him up and down and called him a “wanker”.
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62 min Son cannot believe what has happened, but the laws of the game are pretty clear and that is classified as ‘violent conduct’. Rudiger made a meal of it, and it wouldn’t have been a yellow card 25 years ago, but Son did push his studs upwards into Rudiger’s chest as he fell over. That’s Son’s third red card of the year, I think.
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SON IS SENT OFF!
62 min After a long VAR check, Son is given a red card.
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61 min I think Son is going to be sent off.
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60 min Rudiger fouls Son, who pushes his studs upwards into Rudiger’s chest as he falls over. The contact was pretty soft, but he might be sent off here.
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60 min Chelsea’s two attacking midfielders, Mount and Willian, have been fantastic today.
59 min “Speaking of Mourinho’s Porto, that won the Champions League, and Mourinho’s Chelsea, that didn’t, I still think the former was a marginally better team overall simply because they had a higher average technical quality,” says Phil Podolsky. “Tidier in transitions, that kind of thing. Granted, Drogba (especially after they bought Shevchenko), Essien (before his knees went) and Robben (on the very few occasions he actually played) were amazing.”
I agree about the technical quality, mainly because of Deco, but overall I would take his Chelsea team. They would have walked the 2003-04 Champions League.
58 min Sissoko is booked for a lunge at Willian.
55 min: Disallowed goal for Chelsea! Eriksen’s long-range shot is kicked away by Tomori and Chelsea break dangerously. Eventually Alonso’s shot is spilled by the unsighted Gazzaniga and put in by the offside Abraham. Replays confirm the original offside decision was correct.
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53 min The mood of the match has changed slightly, with Spurs pushing Chelsea back for the first time in the game. Kane threatens to wriggle free in the area before Kante makes an important block tackle.
52 min Replays show that Abraham was just offside when he had that chance a couple of minutes ago, so it would have been VARed had he scored.
51 min “Did Spurs have turkey & Xmas pud for lunch?” says Mike Nagle. “Or was it another lasagne? Chelsea are so much sharper!”
Indeed. Given the importance of the game and the amount of energetic players they have, Spurs have been almost bizarrely lethargic.
50 min That was almost 3-0 to Chelsea. Mount played a fine through pass to Abraham, who shaped to shoot on the turn but then tried to play a reverse square pass back to Mount. It was crucially intercepted by Alderweireld. If Abraham had his time again I’m sure he’d shoot.
47 min It looks like Spurs have switched to a back three, with Lucas Moura and Aurier as wing-backs in a 3-4-1-2 system.
46 min Peep peep! Spurs begin the second half.
Spurs have made a half-time change, with Christian Eriksen replaces Paulo Gazzan Eric Dier.
“How is Gazzaniga still on the pitch for that?” asks Ruth Purdue.
I’m not sure it was a red-card offence, as it was more bizarre than dangerous. Had he hit Alonso studs-first I’m sure he would have gone.
“Lampard’s Chelsea offering Mourinho’s Spurs a textbook example of how to do things in a Mourinho’s Chelsea style,” says Stephen Carr.
More like Mourinho’s Derby for me, or was it Lampard’s Porto?
Half-time: Spurs 0-2 Chelsea
Peep peep! Chelsea have been brilliant - faster, slicker, smarter, braver - and fully deserve their two-goal lead. Willian scored both, although the second will be remembered for a preposterous piece of goalkeeping from Paulo Gazzaniga.
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It was a good penalty, placed confidently into the bottom-right corner. Gazzaniga went the wrong way.
GOAL! Spurs 0-2 Chelsea (Willian 45+4 pen)
Willian scores!
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PENALTY TO CHELSEA!
45+3 min Quite right too. It was an absurd error from Gazzaniga. Alonso almost certainly wasn’t going to get to the ball, either, so he could have let it bounce out of play. Could have used his hands as well.
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45+2 min It should be a penalty, for mine.
45+2 min What the hell has just happened? Gazzaniga runs out, misses the ball completely with a flying kick and clatters into Alonso. But Anthony Taylor gives a foul to Spurs. This will be checked for a penalty.
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44 min Actually, there wasn’t much to it. Alli overran the ball and took an impromptu piggyback on Kovacic. They both fell over, at which point Kovacic, not unreasonably, asked Alli what the eff he was doing. Then they squared up and shoved each other, and that was about it. The 1974 Charity Shield it wasn’t.
43 min Alli and Kovacic squared up to each other off the ball. I’m not exactly sure what happened, because the camera followed the ball, but both have been booked.
43 min: It’s all kicking off!
40 min An overzealous Sissoko charges into Arrizabalaga a split-second after the ball has gone. It was dumb rather than dangerous, and there is no yellow card.
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39 min A long period of pressure for Chelsea comes to an end when Abraham overhits a cross.
35 min A quiet period in the game. Chelsea aren’t as dominant as they were for the first 25 minutes.
31 min Zouma is booked for stopping Kane from taking a quick free-kick. It’s starting to get a bit niggly.
29 min Spurs are starting to create opportunities. Kane runs down the right and curls an excellent low cross that bounces up towards Son beyond the far post. He has to take the shot first time, from a tight angle, and launches it into orbit with his left foot.
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28 min A chance for Spurs. It came out of nothing, when Sissoko sudently charged into the area on the right. He cut the ball back towards Kane, whose snapshot from 10 yards went high over the bar. He probably should have done better.
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26 min I’m surprised Jose Mourinho hasn’t made a tactical change, even at this early stage, because his team are getting battered.
25 min More superb play from Chelsea. Mount takes a return pass from Willian on the left edge of the area, zips smoothly between two defenders but then slices his shot across the penalty area. He was falling as he took the shot, which is why he sliced it so badly.
24 min A dangerous Chelsea counter-attack. Abraham floats a lovely angled pass over the defence for Mount, who takes it down on the chest and is about to shoot when Sanchez comes across to make a vital interception.
23 min “Aurier,” says Matt Loten. “Quite simply, Rob, he’s naff. It’s quite remarkable that the man who brought us Paulo Ferreira is willing to put up with his complete lack of defensive nous, but I suppose he doesn’t have much choice. Surely the first head on the chopping block when Jose prises the chequebook from Levy’s cold, dead hands.”
Yep, agreed.
22 min The corner is headed away by Harry Kane, a welcome touch of the ball for him.
21 min Spurs are getting battered. Willian wins another corner for Chelsea, whose 3-4-2-1 system has thus far worked perfectly.
20 min Alonso’s cross finds the backpedalling Abraham, who can’t steer his header on target. He was off balance as he made contact, which made it a much harder chance. That’s Chelsea’s fifth attempt on goal to Spurs’ none.
19 min Dier goes down after a robust, slightly high block tackle from Mount, who is probably fortunate not to get a yellow card.
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16 min Spurs look half asleep, it’s most peculiar.
14 min Serge Aurier, discuss. He gave away a needless corner in the first place as well.
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Willian took a short corner to Kovacic, who returned the ball to him on the left wing. Willian zipped infield, evaded a half-arsed challenge from Aurier and smacked an emphatic curling shot that flew through the crowd and into the far corner.
GOAL! Spurs 0-1 Chelsea (Willian 12)
Chelsea take a deserved lead with a cracking goal!
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12 min Spurs have been noticeably passive, defending very deep and allowing Chelsea to dictate the game. And now they’ve paid for it!
10 min Rudiger drives over the bar from 30 yards. The fact he was in that position in open play, however, is a reflection of Chelsea’s dominance.
9 min “Is this a record,” says Ian Sargeant, “for the number of syllables for a pair if goalkeepers in a top-flight game?”
What, Kepa? Yep, all week I’m afraid. And most of next year an’ all.
8 min Chelsea have started really well. Kante’s first-time cross finds Abraham, whose header deflects behind for a corner. I’m not sure it was on target anyway but the build-up was excellent.
6 min Mount forces a pass into Abraham, whose shot on the turn goes well wide. He was under a lot of pressure from Alderweireld.
4 min It’s been a cagey start to the game, with lots of Chelsea possession in deeper areas.
2 min “Now that the ‘Official Undisputed Greatest Club In The Whole World Trophy’ has been won, it barely seems worth continuing with the Premier League,” says Matt Dony. “All seems a bit academic. If we must continue, though, I just hope José lets the ‘humility’ mask slip and does something really, really José. The man is a genius, and I love having him in the league. Just nowhere near my club.”
1 min Peep peep! Chelsea, in blue, kick off from left to right. Spurs are in white.
The players are ready, and there’s a cracking atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Before the match, there’s a minute’s applause for the late Martin Peters.
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Watford have beaten Manchester United 2-0 in the early game. A generous assessment of United’s performance - it’s the season of goodwill, after all - is that they were a risible shambles. But Watford were great, and have a puncher’s chance of staying up.
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Pre-match reading
Team news
Spurs are unchanged from last weekend’s stirring win at Wolves. It looks like Chelsea have switched to a back three.
Spurs (4-2-3-1) Gazzaniga; Aurier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Sissoko, Dier; Lucas Moura, Alli, Son; Kane.
Substitutes: Vorm, Rose, Foyth, Winks, Lo Celso, Eriksen, Ndombele.
Chelsea (3-4-2-1) Arrizabalaga; Zouma, Rudiger, Tomori; Azpilicueta, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso; Willian, Mount; Abraham.
Substitutes: Caballero, Christiansen, James, Pulisic, Jorginho, Hudson-Odoi, Batshuayi.
Referee Anthony Taylor.
Preamble
Hello. Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea was already one of the Premier League’s spicier fixtures – and then Spurs added a few Carolina Reaper peppers to the recipe by appointing Jose Mourinho as their manager. Jose against Chelsea is always a big game. Jose’s Spurs against Chelsea - Frank Lampard’s Chelsea at that - is on another level.
All things being equal, these teams will spend the rest of the season battling each other for the lucrative Fourth Place Trophy. When Mourinho took over on 20 November, Spurs were in 14th place, 12 points behind Chelsea. If they win today, they will go above them. Neutrals are advised to have the popcorn to hand for the next few hours.
Kick off is at 4.30pm
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