Chelsea continued their unlikely push for Europe whilst all but ending Tottenham’s Champions League hopes as they won 2-0.
Goals in both halves from Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson secured a priceless win for Mauricio Pochettino’s side as they moved within two points of a European spot, with Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs still seven points off the illusive Champions League place.
Here are five things we learnt from the match…
VAR farce continues
When Trevoh Chalobah headed past Guglielmo Vicario in the 23rd minute to give Chelsea the lead, everyone in the stadium thought there were no issues with the goal. A fantastic ball into the box by Conor Gallagher and the unmarked Chalobah was on hand to dispatch his header with ease. However, the dreaded VAR check appeared on the Stamford Bridge screens, which was welcomed by a collective groan from the Blues fans. First an offside check, then a check for a possible foul, it took almost three minutes to allow the goal after trying to find a fault that no one could see. Another instance where yet more confusion was had.
Lethargic Spurs fail to turn up
Coming into this match, Tottenham were only playing their second match in 19 days, whilst Chelsea were playing their fifth in that same period. Although Spurs’ north London derby performance showed plenty of encouragement, this match showed the very opposite. Mauricio Pochettino’s men played Tottenham off the park in the first half, and were unfortunate to not be more than one goal up at the interval. Ange Postecoglou’s side lacked urgency and creativity throughout, an uncommon theme from the Lilywhites this campaign.
Injury stricken Chelsea battle to win
If you discount young defender Alfie Gilchrist as a senior player, then Chelsea only had nine fit senior outfield players at their disposal. Despite spending hundreds of millions of pounds, Mauricio Pochettino’s bench included just youth players, with the exception being experienced third choice goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli, such is the Blues’ mounting injury crisis. The first eleven that started against Tottenham performed admirably and luckily all escaped unscathed, and the youngsters who entered the fray did a good job too.
Spurs need a set piece coach to make the next step
After conceding twice on the weekend to Arsenal from set pieces, Tottenham continued that negative trend as they conceded yet another two from dead ball situations against Chelsea. The first being Trevoh Chalobah’s perfectly guided header in the first half, with the Englishman completely unmarked on the edge of Spurs’ box. Cole Palmer’s freekick rattled the underside of the cross bar in the second, and Nicolas Jackson headed the rebound in to rub salt in Tottenham wounds. That took the tally of goals conceded from set pieces to 15 for the season, whilst north London rivals Arsenal only sit on six.
Champions League football looks unlikely for Spurs
It is beginning to look likely that Tottenham will miss out of a Champions League spot next season. After Borussia Dortmund’s win over PSG in the Champions League ensured Germany and Italy would received the much desired fifth Champions League place, only a fourth placed finish would do in Ange Postecoglou’s quest for top tier European club football. With two games in hand on rivals Aston Villa, a win tonight would have closed the gap to four points and upped the anti on their opponents. Defeat tonight all but rules out Spurs’ hopes of a top four finish, as they are seven points behind with four games remaining.
