Tottenham Stadium was the place where the Spurs received a visit from Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea. We have tonight’s player ratings.
In Thomas Tuchel’s first London Derby with Chelsea, the Blues visited Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium. Jose Mourinho was coming from a painful home defeat at home during the last game he played there against Liverpool. Another defeat tonight would be a first in his entire career, a sign of different times compared to the past. Today, Tuchel had the inertia of any new manager who is only taking control of a world-class football club.
In the last match, we could see the manager’s philosophy with an extreme ball possession we never saw from the Blues in previous seasons. Today, it was more of the same with an evident dominance on the pitch. Mourinho can bring Harry Kane’s absence to the conversation all he wants. But losing ball possession at his own stadium doesn’t usually happen to Jose. The only goal of the match came in the first half through a penalty awarded for the Blues. Jorginho scored without a problem and that was all Chelsea needed to win this game.
Tottenham improves during the second half.
For the second half, Jose Mourinho made a few modifications that helped a little but didn’t create enough impact to turn the game around. It’s evident he still doesn’t trust Gareth Bale enough to give him a few minutes in a game like tonight. This Tottenham squad is not even close to the team we see when Harry Kane is on the pitch.
Thomas Tuchel held on to that decisive factor in order to protect the result and win three points. This is the first Premier League victory of a new era at Chelsea. One can already tell how different things are with the new manager and the players are more involved. Perhaps they won’t be able to fight for the title, but they can at least be proud of their improvement.
Player ratings
Tottenham: Lloris (6), Alderweireld (5), Aurier (6), Davies (6), Sissoko (6), Hojbjerg (6), Dier (6), Ndombele (5), Son (6), Bergwijn (6), Vinicius (5).
Bench: Moura (6), Lamela (6).
Chelsea: Mendy (7), Silva (4), Azpilicueta (6), Alonso (7), Rudiger (6), James (6), Kovacic (7), Jorginho (7), Mount (7), Werner (7), Hudson-Odoi (7).
Bench: Christensen (6), Pulisic (7), Kante (7).
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