Chelsea shakes off blues with customary win over Tottenham

By PTI

LONDON: Once Hakim Ziyech’s curling, dipping strike landed in the Tottenham goal, Chelsea never looked back.

Sure, it took until two minutes into the second half to break the deadlock and the Moroccan was justified in ranking it “10 out of 10.” But the space gifted for Thiago Silva’s header from Mason Mount’s free kick in the 55th minute to seal a 2-0 win on Sunday was a snapshot of this most lopsided of London rivalries.

Chelsea should never have doubted its four-match winless run in the Premier League would end on Sunday. Not even with former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte going nine league matches unbeaten at the start of his Tottenham reign before the visit to Stamford Bridge.

It’s now 33 wins for Chelsea against Tottenham in the Premier League era — more than against any other opponent. Not since 2018 has a Tottenham player even scored against Chelsea in the league when the north London side last won this derby.

“Over the last couple of weeks we haven’t had the results we wanted,” Mount said. “So you start looking around you and teams are creeping up, teams have more games than us.”

 “So then we start getting in a difficult position. So today was a massive game, with Tottenham coming upon us, and having games on us to get three points was massive for us.”

Tottenham will have complaints that Harry Kane was denied a first-half goal when it was ruled out for what appeared his slight touch on Silva before racing through on goal to meet Ryan Sessegnon’s cross.

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But for all Kane harangued referee Paul Tierney at halftime, Tottenham crumbling so soon after the break made the win for Chelsea look inevitable. Tottenham was also denied a spot in the League Cup final by Chelsea winning both semifinal legs this month.

Victory for Thomas Tuchel’s side shores up a top-four place that was starting to look shaky before winning for the first time since Dec 26.

Chelsea stayed a point behind second-place Liverpool, which won 3-1 across London at Crystal Palace through first-half goals from Virgil Van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Fabinho’s penalty.

“The first 35 minutes was brilliant and some of the best stuff we have played all season,” Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said.”Exactly the way we want to play and if somebody had an explanation for what happened after 35 minutes, I would like it.”

Splendid Sunday viewing!