Spurs made a good start to the game, helped by several cheap gifts from Chelsea. But we survived that early pressure and controlled proceedings. Duchel spoke pre-game about wanting to do that while preventing Spurs from attacking and we were doing a good job of that.
Things got even better as Chelsea opened the scoring within 20 minutes. Hugo Lloris made a superb save on a one-handed Howards shot, but Kalidou Koulibaly’s superb volley from a Mark Cugurella corner was to no avail.
Chelsea kept control of proceedings but couldn’t add to the advantage, and the game remained the same after the break – with Chelsea’s extra turnovers missing a number of potential opportunities.
Then refereeing incompetence, aided by a bit of sloppy play at the back, led to Spurs leveling midway through the second half, when Howards and Richarlison were in the path of Hajbjerg’s shot, not to mention a foul was deemed to have interfered. .
The benches were cleared after the goal but after the tempers subsided we quickly took the lead thanks to Reece James.
Unfortunately, Harry Kane’s last-second equalizer from a corner, followed by a bit more incompetence from the referees, would see the points shared.
Carefree.
- Two changes from last weekend, Cucurella and Loftus-Cheek both started at wing-back, and James dropped to right-centre back.
- Aspie on for Jorginho after the goal, James moved to wing-back and RLC to midfield. Gallagher back in Conte’s squad after injury More changes like Pulisic for Sterling and Broja for Howards.
- 40 Premier League games now “unwinnable at half-time”
- Chelsea have not lost a home Premier League game since October 2011 when we led at half-time.
- Next: Leeds United Next Saturday
- KTBFFH