Premier League: Chelsea’s misery continues as Tottenham Hotspur claim deserved win
Oliver Skipp scored his first goal for Tottenham Hotspur as the Lilywhites consolidated their hold on fourth place in the Premier League table with a deserved 2-0 win over London rivals Chelsea.
The Spurs academy product blasted Cristian Stellini’s side in front 19 seconds into the second half before Harry Kane rounded off a deserved win late on, extending the Blues’ winless run away from home to 10 games in all competitions as Graham Potter’s miserable spell continues.
Having recalled a number of big-hitters to his starting lineup, under-fire Chelsea coach Potter witnessed his side start the brightest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – an all-too familiar first-half sight for Tottenham fans.
Fraser Forster remained relatively untroubled – barring a 20-yard effort from Joao Felix straight down his throat in the 18th minute – and the Blues’ momentum would be disrupted by injury only a minute later.
Veteran centre-back Thiago Silva initially tried to carry on after picking up a knock, but his race was run in the 20th minute as Wesley Fofana came on to replace his stricken teammate.
The Frenchman got stuck into the action straight away as Spurs upped the tempo – crucially sliding in to deflect Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s strike onto the post with 27 minutes gone.
With Tottenham slowly getting a foothold in the game, it became clear that there was no love lost between the two London rivals, as challenges flew in left, right and centre in front of the animated crowd – who enjoyed Kane leaving a bit on resident time-waster Kepa Arrizabalaga in particular.
As a fiery first half drew to a close, Raheem Sterling cut inside and fired a shot towards goal in the 44th minute, which Forster unconvincingly parried into the danger area before Ben Davies cleared the danger.
However, there was always going to be scope for a dose of officiating controversy, as in added time, a tackle on Richarlison by Hakim Ziyech sparked a melee, in which the latter shoved Emerson Royal in the shoulder and caught his face on the way through.
Ziyech was initially sent off by Stuart Attwell, but the referee downgraded his punishment to a yellow card after taking a look at the monitor, sparking a chorus of boos at the sound of the half-time whistle.
The final act of the first half galvanised an already-fired Tottenham, who took just 19 seconds of the second half to draw first blood thanks to a cracker from Skipp, whose first goal for Spurs was one to remember.
After Kepa saved from Emerson, Skipp burst forward to intercept Enzo Fernandez’s clearance to Felix, and the Lilywhites midfielder unleashed a brilliant strike into the roof of the net via the hand of Kepa and the crossbar.
Mason Mount and Denis Zakaria were introduced by Potter as Chelsea continued to struggled to make inroads, and the former helped them carve their way through the Tottenham backline in the 67th minute, but Forster was quick off his line to deny Kai Havertz making the most of Mount’s neat flick.
Chelsea’s lacklustre attacking efforts were comfortably quelled by Tottenham, who doubled their lead in the 82nd minute through their talismanic striker, as Son Heung-min’s corner was flicked on by Eric Dier for Kane to tap home at the back post – scoring his 20th goal of the season in the process.
Tottenham now hold a four-point lead over Newcastle United – who have two games in hand – while Chelsea stay 10th, 14 points adrift of the Champions League places.
Next up for Spurs is an FA Cup fifth-round tie at Sheffield United on Wednesday, while Chelsea host relegation-threatened Leeds United next weekend.
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