Spurs vs Chelsea: 5 Things We Learnt

The last time the two teams met, 303 days ago on the very first day of 2015, the fans were treated to amazing football and goals galore. The London derby between Chelsea and Spurs has always been an intriguing match and over the years, everyone has been expecting this match to be lively and exciting . It was anything but. A drab 0-0 draw with only a total of 5 shots on target. Chelsea must have been extremely satisfied, keeping a clean sheet and earning an important point against an in-form top team who were on an unbeaten run of 12 games before this match, away from home.

Spurs, obviously, dominated possession and had numerically greater number of chances, but Eden Hazard’s volleyed effort was the closest either of the two teams came to breaking the dead lock. It was shutter shut down at both ends as Spurs squandered a wonderful chance to leapfrog Arsenal, momentarily, and join the top 4 brigade as they played a goalless 0-0 draw against the derailed defending Champions.

5 things we learnt from this drab encounter are:

Tottenham players were tired.

Eight of the Tottenham players who started against Qarabag and only arrived back in England at 4.30am on Friday started against Chelsea. Tottenham’s trip to Azerbaijan mid-week was the longest trip by any Spurs team for a competitive match ever. Evidently, Pochettino wasn’t quite impressed with the noon kick-off, describing it as a “joke”. The fatigue and tiredness was evident in the second half as Spurs didn’t have enough gas to push Chelsea on to the wall. Chelsea welcomed the unexpected drop in intensity and settled for a draw graciously.
The decision to bring off Son for Njie gave enough evidence that fatigue was setting in for the Spurs’ players.
Hazard slowly coming into his groove and super Willian can propel Chelsea to respectability

Fluency was lacking in an at-times scrappy contest which lacked moments of real quality. Hugo Lloris made a fine save to deny Eden Hazard who was the target man for Chelsea in the absence of Diego Costa (Coming to him in the next point). Eden Hazard had a pretty decent game and certainly looked like the only Chelsea player who could have broken the dead-lock. Willian’s defensive work rate was amazing once again as he regularly dropped back and helped his full back out defensively. He was pretty good on set pieces as well, as he hit them with pace and purpose to the heads of Cahill and  Zouma.
The  lack of defensive work rate by Pedro in the first half made it easy for Spurs to exploit his flank, while Willian’s side was slammed shut. As a result, most of the first half chances for Spurs came from Pedro’s flank. Pedro, however, redeemed himself in the second half, partly because of the fact that Spurs were wilting.

“Cuddles and kisses” needed, yet again?

The decision to leave the lone striker, Diego Costa, on the bench and then the subsequent decision to not sub him on in the match left the controversial striker visibly infuriated. As he came back to the bench after warming up, he threw his bib at Jose Mourinho in disgust…. which missed its target (Not for the first time this season).

What the world saw might have been the end of Mourinho’s relationship with Costa and while Jose Mourinho claimed his on-pitch spat with Diego Costa in midweek had been cured by kisses and cuddles, they might not not be enough for him after that display.
If Jose has already lost his faith in his striker, he might as well make judicious use of the January transfer window. As for Costa, his time at the Stamford Bridge could be up.

Kyle Walker is thriving on competition

Having burst on to the scene as one of the most exciting right-backs in the Premier League, Kyle Walker seemed lost his way at Tottenham. He was just one step away from a defensive blunder. As a result, Walker was heading towards the category of those “attacking” defenders who never learnt how to defend.

The introduction of Kieran Trippier into the side had put pressure on him to perform and he has duly upped his performance, for Spurs as well as for England . Against Chelsea he was dangerous going forward and defensively swept things off when needed.

Daniel Levy should back Pochettino.

Tottenham have been here before. In 2012, former Spurs manager Harry Redknapp felt his team could be genuine title challengers. He asked for Carlos Tevez and Gary Cahill in the January transfer window, but got Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen. With no one team dominating this season’s Premier League, Tottenham again have the chance to put real pressure on the more traditional challengers.

But Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will have to decide whether he sticks or twists. Pochettino won’t be asking for star names such as Tevez and Cahill, but he will be keen for January reinforcements and Levy should back him.