Chelsea defeat Tottenham after a sublime strike from Hakim Ziyech lights up London Derby. Ziyech, who was man of the match scored the opening goal with a magnificent strike while Thiago Silva made it 2 : 0 with a headed goal.
Chelsea made two changes from their midweek draw with Brighton. Malang Sarr, Mateo Kovacic joining the lineup, with N’Golo Kante and Alonso falling to the bench.
Antonio Conte has made four changes to the Tottenham lineup that defeated Leicester on Wednesday with a late comeback.
With Lucas Moura on the bench, match winner Steven Bergwijn was given a starting spot. Sergio Reguilon, Emerson Royal, and Oliver Skipp will be replaced by Matt Doherty, Eric Dier, and Ryan Sessegnon.
Because of Chelsea’s League Cup success, both teams lined up with four-man defenses in this one, but it was still all Chelsea in the first half, with the Blues dominating and controlling the game in midfield and creating a slew of chances — many of which won’t have shown up on xG because they completely whiffed on their shots at least twice. And by they, I’m referring to Romelu Lukaku.
Hudson-Odoi also had a number of nice opportunities, notably one early on when he failed to guide his header on goal from a great Ziyech inside-out cross from the right.
At the other end, Harry Kane had a goal disallowed when he was deemed to have knocked Thiago Silva to the ground after an extremely uncommon surge forward. The push didn’t have much in it, but Silva managed to sell it successfully.
Hojbjerg escaped at least two yellow-card worthy fouls (studs on Sarr; bodycheck on Ziyech; elbow on Hudson-Odoi) and Tanganga escaped a second yellow after a second drag-back on Hudson-Odoi, so Spurs wouldn’t have much to complain about in terms of refereeing bias.
Within the opening 10 minutes of the second half, Hakim Ziyech scored with one of the most technically flawless strikes you’ll ever see, and Thiago Silva doubled Chelsea’s advantage by heading in a Mount free kick – all within the first ten minutes of the time.
After then, the game got considerably more ragged and intense, with many incidents, including one in which Spurs supporters threw items towards Rüdiger. Also, Azpilicueta was rugby-tackled in the Tottenham penalty area.
And one in which Bergwijn pushed Azpi to the ground. Throughout, the referee does his best Clattenburg impersonation.
Spurs, on the other hand, were never truly a danger, and Chelsea stayed in command. The Blues deserved to win, particularly considering the week they’ve had.
In his post match press conference, Tuchel calls the new formation a 4-1-4-1. He wanted a ‘new solution’ and a system that Tottenham wouldn’t be aware of. He says it allowed Ziyech to play in his best position and he opted for it with wing backs and centre backs injured.
Watch Hakim Ziyech Sublime Strike Below:
On the other side, Konte said in his post match conference that “My assessment is that we lost three times against Chelsea. It means maybe they are better than us – we are talking about two different realities.”
Antonio Conte concedes his Tottenham side are not yet at the level of Chelsea.
Chelsea are now 10 points behind league leaders Manchester City and 1 point behind second placed Liverpool with both having 1 and 2 outstanding matches respectively.
