Tottenham Hotspurs Shut Down Chelsea

By Harry Morgan

Tottenham Hotspurs pulled up a spirited performance on Saturday to end Chelsea twelve-game Premier League unbeaten run with a 3-1 win at Wembley Stadium.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men showed their intent from the blast of referee Martin Atkinson’s whistle and, perhaps, showed the world how to neutralise Maurizio Sarri’s trademark philosophy called ‘Sarriball’, as they pinned the visitors deep into their own half and allowed them no space and time on the ball.

It came as no surprise when the hosts shot into an early lead with Dele Alli providing a perfect header to Christian Eriksen’s equally perfect cross from a free kick close to the visitors’ penalty box.

Chelsea struggled to keep pace with Spurs after the goal and Heung-Min Son, with the opportunity to increase the lead, after tearing into the penalty box with Christian Eriksen’s lovely pass, missed the target with a shot narrowly wide.

The South Korean play maker went on a mazy run, two minutes later, skipped past two defenders and pulled the trigger in front of the goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, who denied the former with a decent save.

Harry Kane made it two for Spurs in the 16th minute by weaving his way past opponents to unleash a magnificent effort, from the edge of the box, into the bottom left corner and beyond the diving Arrizabalaga.

Arrizabalaga saved Chelsea from conceding again, on the half-hour mark, when he dealt with Toby Alderweireld’s shot towards the bottom right corner, eight minutes before Spurs’ goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris saved Chelsea’s first decent chance by pulling a nice save to thwart Eden Hazard’s mid-range shot.

Kepa was forced into action to thwart Heung-Min Son’s strike two minutes into stoppage time, and the Korean opened the second half by scoring Spur’s 3rd goal when made a great solo run in the 55th minute to beat Kepa with a strike into the bottom left corner from outside the box.

Harry Kane flew a shot over the bar from close range in the 68th minute, Dele Alli came within inches of scoring in the 70th minute after picking up a pass from Harry Kane, but flashed a shot just over the bar, before Arrizabalaga pulled up a great saved to deny Harry Kane’s brilliant shot towards the bottom right corner.

Cesar Azpilicueta led Chelsea to score a consolation goal in the 85 minutes when he found Olivier Giroud with a beautiful lofted cross into the box, for the Frenchman to sweetly head it low inside the right post.