Football, the modern way, is precision at pace. It is the art of executing one’s game plan with accuracy and clairvoyance, irrepressibly trying to play a winning game, responding to the many permutations a match can present in the course of 90 minutes. The Premier League, the self-acclaimed zenith of club football, often offers pace, but not always the precision.
The Chelsea-Tottenham match had plenty of rigour, but little exactness. In fact, Dele Alli’s header was the only exacting moment in a first half overloaded with intensity and handbags aggression. Alli showed what a joyous player he is with a fine looping header in the space between Victor Moses and César Azpilicueta from Christian Eriksen’s curled delivery from the right. At full stretch, Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois’s athletic body is imposing, but the angle and curve of the ball were simply too good, 1-0.
It was a frantic finale to a half that had commenced at the speed of an unhinged high-speed train. The form teams of the league were abrasive in their game, but did not muster an end product. They strangely congealed in the midfield, where space was at a premium. Caution and “Conte-naccio” prevailed.
Pochettino’s gamble pays off
After five minutes Eden Hazard, the brilliant Belgian, who, at the same time, never truly convinces, should have given Chelsea the lead from Nemanja Matic’s lofted through ball, but he dragged his left-footed shot across Hugo Lloris and wide of the far post. Fellow Belgian Jan Vertonghen had played Hazard onside, but it was to be the sole blip from Tottenham’s three men rearguard that Mauricio Pochettino had fielded in a mirror image of his London rivals. On Sunday, away to Watford, Tottenham had played a back three to great effect.
Pochettino’s 3-4-2-1 formation was a gamble, forcing Eric Wanyama to marshal the defensive midfield. The Kenyan did so with verve throughout the game, and after a scrappy, disjointed opening phase and Hazard’s big chance, Tottenham controlled the match. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, presumably the best full-backs in the Premier League this season, attacked. Walker had 21 touches, more than any other Tottenham player, in the first 15 minutes. Chelsea resorted to the use of the long ball.
The visitors, however, did not cave in without a fight. They pressed after the restart as the match lurched from box to box. Chelsea wanted to suffocate the hosts. They were fast and furious. They poked and probed. They attacked and penetrated, but, notwithstanding another glorious chance for Hazard, they did not score At the other end Tottenham did – a twin header from Alli from a twin assist by Eriksen. This time the Dane designed and crafted much of the goal. His superb cross – with the lightest of curves – isolated Alli at the far post.
The season stays alive, but only just
In the unfamiliar position of trailing, Chelsea’s coach replaced Marco Alonso with Willian to provide attacking impetus, but by the time Michy Batshuayi came on, Tottenham had barely been threatened, and the Belgian striker was yet again reduced to perfunctory minutes in a game from which the competitive element had been sucked.
Tottenham’s victory checked Chelsea and their relentless march to the Premier League title. Ever since Conte’s ingenious switch to 3-4-3 in the disastrous match at Arsenal, Chelsea racked up wins and points – 13 and 39 respectively, a dream scenario and a renaissance from last season. They seemed unstoppable and three points at White Hart Lane would have reduced the rest of the season to an open-and-shut case.
Not so just yet, but history suggests a defeat at Tottenham for Chelsea is telling of what is to come: in the last two seasons that Chelsea lost their Premier League fixtures at White Hart Lane, they went on to win the title – 1-2 in the 2009-‘10 season and 3-5 in the 2014-‘15 season.