Spurs dominate in the London Derby as they outclass Chelsea at the Bridge

In a glorious, wet afternoon for Tottenham at Stamford Bridge, Roberto De Zerbi’s men secure consecutive Premier League victories for the first time in 36 games as they completely outclass Chelsea to win 2–0 against their fierce London rivals.

The game didn’t spark to life for well over an hour, but Spurs dominated the Blues from start to finish, coming out as deserving winners despite their historic woes at Staford Bridge.

In just their second win in West London in Premier League history, and a first since 2017.

The away side opened the scoring through an unfortunate own goal by Mike Penders, who got his punch away all wrong, giving Spurs the deserved lead. A few minutes later, Cole Palmer, who was already riding his luck, earned two yellows in eight minutes and got himself sent off, damping Chelsea's spirits even further.

Mathys Tel, who looked dangerous all evening, capped off a fine display with a sensational goal, finishing into the bottom left-hand corner after a great run to give Spurs a terrific 2–0 win. The win puts De Zerbi’s men into 12th place, with the Italian probably more impressed by the manner of performance, and will be looking to build on their recent two wins.

MATCH REPORT

It was the away side that started brightest, but nothing came of Tottenham’s good first 10 minutes. Xabi Alonso’s side did come back into it slightly, they had a brief five-minute spell of pressure that was almost capitalised on by Cole Palmer, after his shot from inside the box looked to be bending into the far corner, but Anton Kinsky got behind it and tipped the ball over. Apart from Chelsea’s high press working well a couple of times, Spurs looked much the better side and were controlling the game, especially down the left-hand side through interchanges between Mathys Tel, James Maddison and Andy Robertson.

In fact, it was Robertson’s and Tel’s combination that created their side’s best chance of the half, after a nice one-two between the pair meant the Scottish full-back could reach the byline. He cut the ball back to Omar Marmoush, who was waiting on the penalty spot, but his effort was smartly saved by Mike Penders.

Chelsea’s biggest chance came from a Spurs mistake, which was seemingly the only joy the hosts were getting throughout the first half. Kinsky gave the ball straight to Pedro Neto deep inside the Tottenham half, and after a few sleek passes from the Chelsea attack, Jordan Henderson had an opportunity from the edge of the box, but his shot was beaten away by a thankful Spurs keeper. The first half lacked major talking points, with the surprise coming from how poor Chelsea looked and how much Tottenham were dominating, with Roberto De Zerbi’s men looking by far the better footballing team between the two teams.

And the half-time statistics were evident of that, with Spurs having 70% of the possession in the first period, with seven shots compared to Chelsea’s four. But the Lilywhites faced the same problem as they have had all season; lacking any end product to match their good performance. Chelsea had to get better than they were, and were bound to get more joy, but the pattern repeated in the first half of the second period, with Spurs dominating without creating anything clear-cut.

Despite an early second half injury that forced off James Maddison, the away side still retained the majority of control at Stamford Bridge. A poor pass by Matheus Fernandes did give Chelsea a glimmer of an opportunity, with Neto having a chance from just inside the box; however, his shot was straight at Kinsky and was comfortably saved.

After a pretty tame first 70 minutes, some fire that is usually so prominent in this fixture finally

came, with Fernandes and Palmer’s exchange causing bloods to boil at the Bridge, with the latter leaving some afters on the Portuguese midfielder and is lucky not to see red.

And it finally caused the game to come alive, and with just a quarter of an hour to go, a set-piece finally broke the deadlock, and it came from a massive mistake by Chelsea’s young goalkeeper.

Fernandes swung in a decent-looking corner, but it looked a routine punch for Penders, but pressure from van Hecke caused his clearance to go all wrong, and it went back towards his own net, crossing the line and giving Spurs a well deserved lead. And it went from bad to worse for Chelsea, as just a few minutes after Tottenham’s opener, Palmer left a very late stamp on Conor Gallagher’s foot, earning himself a second yellow and leaving his team with 10 men for the final 10 minutes.

Tottenham had fire in their bellies after that, and with five minutes to go, Mathys Tel’s wonder goal secured the victory for his team and shocked Stamford Bridge even further.

The French forward picked the ball up in his own half and drove past Josh Acheampong, cutting inside and shooting low and hard into the bottom left-hand corner, giving Penders no chance and putting the cherry on top in a sensational display by the away team. The game eventually fizzled out, with Chelsea fans and players dejected, as they fell to a dismal defeat to their biggest rivals.

It doesn’t get any easier for Xabi Alonso’s side, though, with games against Liverpool and

Manchester United in the coming week, as the Spaniard looks to forget his team’s awful display. For Roberto De Zerbi, his best afternoon as Spurs coach has propelled his side into 12th, and will look to build on their impressive display against Crystal Palace next Saturday.

MOTM: Matheus Fernandes