Chelsea arrested their recent slump in league form by deservedly beating London rivals Spurs 2-0 at Stamford Bridge today.
Much has been made of the relationship between Chelsea’s £98 million striker Romelu Lukaku and Blues boss Thomas Tuchel recently, and the Belgian striker to would fail to make the most of a hat-trick of half-chances during the opening period.
Despite the home side dominating Spurs looked to have taken the lead through talisman Harry Kane just before half-time. However, referee Paul Tierney disallowed the goal for a push by Kane on Brazilian defender Thiago Silva just before the England skipper had turned and fired past Kepa.
Chelsea’s superiority would eventually be rewarded just two minutes after the break and it would come in sublime style via Hakim Ziyech. The former Ajax attacker curling a worldie of a strike into the top corner from outside the area.
Then on 55 minutes the Blues would seal the win, when Thiago Silva flicked home an in swinging Mason Mount free-kick from the left-hand side.
Speaking afterwards Blues boss Tuchel was delighted with his sides display after what has been a pretty hectic round of fixtures for the west London outfit.
”We were working extremely hard for it and it was a tough match,” Tuchel told Sky Sports.
”The effort was outstanding and it was a deserved win. It is so hard to create chances against them but we were relentless and kept on believing.
“Keep on going, there was no need for changes, some details of when to take the risk and when not. Encouragement to keep on going.”
“The table is the table, it is our responsibility to prove ourselves every third day and now we have a break and it was important to go into this break with a performance we want. We needed this but needed also to do things better. The guys are very tired because it was a long run for us.”