Conte enjoying his time at Chelsea / Image via 101greatgoals.com
The 26-year winless stretch for Tottenham at Stamford Bridge continued on Saturday, although it looked as if Spurs would be able to win their first away game at Chelsea after 29 failed attempts.
Chelsea have sent another strong message as they reaffirm their Premier League title bid with an enthusiastic 2-1 win which allows them to keep the top spot in the league.
As Blues fans celebrate another win, here are the five things we learned today:
Deserved win for Blues
Chelsea struggled in the opening stages of the match, but were quick to get back up on their feet having conceded through Eriksen after 11 minutes of play.
Stunned by an early goal, Blues were forced to work their way up in order to end the day exactly where they started it with a comeback triumph.
It took Blues only six minutes either side of the half time to completely get back in the game as Pedro returned the favour to Spurs with a wonderful out of the box goal, before Victor Moses completed a memorable fightback utilising on poor positioning from Spurs’ defenders for an easy tap-in inside the empty net.
Possession of 54% to 46% and the total of 12 goal attempts is a statistical demonstration of Chelsea’s dominance today.
Chelsea displaying winning mentality
We knew all about it already, Antonio Conte is a winner.
His trophy-laden spell at Chelsea is there to confirm it, but many people had serious doubts about his ability to cope with the demanding football of the Premier League.
He encountered fair share of bumps on the road so far, but seems to have found the right formula with the 3-4-3 formation, which is yielding incredible results.
Antonio Conte did not only alter the system, it is his changes to the team mentality that are perhaps the most important aspect of his overall influence at Chelsea. His charisma is infective, his temperament contagious and Chelsea fans should be very happy with overall results.
The Italian manager has turned his team into proper title contenders and strong, winning mentality takes great credit for the current run.
Eriksen finds a crack in the wall
Denmark playmaker could not have chosen the better moment to score his first Premier League goal of the season.
Having gone 11 games and 956 minutes without a goal to his name, Christian Eriksen managed open his account at Stamford Bridge with an incredible kick in the first half.
The 23-year-old did not hesitate to shoot outside of the box, providing the recipe for breaking Conte’s incredibly tight new formation which helped Chelsea to a 7-match winning Premier League run, without conceding a single goal in the process.
Whereas most of the rivals attempt to break through Chelsea’s tightly-packed defences, trying to build their way through to the goal, Eriksen showed that all it takes is courage to fire a shot in order to crack open the Blues.
Unfortunately for Eriksen, his teammates provided little support to make his efforts worthwhile
Pedro (and Moses) thriving under Antonio Conte
The Spanish international Pedro got off to a slow start to his Chelsea career following his last summer’s move from Barcelona, raising questions of his future under Antonio Conte.
Pedro has however become a key performer under the Italian manager proving to be a perfect fit for his newly adopted 3-4-3 formation.
The Spaniard replaced Willian in the starting line-up, but has refused to give up on his place in the team with a string of impressive displays.
In the team for the last six Premier League matches, Pedro has gone to score three goals and manage five assists, at the same time putting his qualities to the best possible use on the wing for Chelsea.
Today’s goal which marked Chelsea’s incredible comeback against the Spurs was a worthy reward for incredible exploits and work-rate which have made him a valuable member of the team.
Victor Moses is just an honourable mention as we already wrote about the Nigerian HERE.
Tottenham – A defeat long overdue
It took 13 weeks in the Premier League new season for Tottenham to record their first defeat of the campaign.
Impressive stretch came to an end on Stamford Bridge and not many people will be surprised to see Spurs capitulate in front of high-flying Chelsea. One could even say their Sautrday’s defeat is long overdue.
Spurs have been enjoying a torrid run ever since mid-October, torrid considering their newly-set standards. Last season’s title chargers have been running on fumes over the last couple of weeks as they went on to record five straight league draws before their last week’s hard-fought and somewhat fortunate win over struggling West Ham.
This week’s Champions League elimination has for sure been a huge blow to Mauricio Pochettino’s men and no one could be surprised to see an emotionally drained side succumb to a new set-back.
Pochettino now faces a tough task of lifting his team’s spirits as Spurs miss their chance to leapfrog Arsenal in fourth, albeit only for the night.
CHELSEA: Courtois 7 – Azpilicueta 7, Luiz 7, Cahill 7 – Moses 7.5 (Ivanovic 6), Kante 7.5, Matic 7.5, Alonso 7 – Pedro 8 (Oscar 6), Costa 6.5, Hazard 6.5 (Willian 6)
Unused subs: Batshuai, Begovic, Chalobah, Fabregas.
SPURS: Lloris 6.5 – Dier 6, Wimmer 6.5, Vertonghen 6.5 – Walker 6.5, Wanyama 6, Dembele 6 (Janssen 6), Son 6 (Winks 6) – Eriksen 7.5, Alli 7 (N’Koudou 6.5) – Kane 6.5
Unused subs: Carter-Vickers, Onomah, Trippier, Vorm.
REFEREE: Michael Oliver
Other results today
Burnley 1-2 Man City
Hull City 1-1 WBA
Leicester 2-2 Middlesbrough
Liverpool 2-0 Sunderland
Swansea 5-4 Crystal Palace
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