Fuente : Chelsea FC
http://www.chelseafc.com/

Match Report - Tottenham 0 Chelsea 2

/noticias.info/ Asier del Horno’s first goal for Chelsea and Damien Duff’s first goal of the season gave Chelsea an easy victory after Mido had been sent off on 24 minutes.

It is now 31 League games without defeat for Chelsea against Tottenham. As a central defensive partnership, Gallas and Terry have still not conceded a League goal under Mourinho’s management.

Tottenham won all the early aerial battles. Mido was fouled by jumping Terry, and from the free-kick del Horno needed treatment after climbing with Gardner. Drogba limped away too. Then after four minutes Dawson had a free header from the game’s first corner, but from eight yards skewed it wide.

Chelsea moved up a gear and were matching Tottenham when after 20 minutes Tainia played a one-two with Defoe and tore for the area only to be tripped by Essien who was booked. The free-kick was inside the penalty area ‘D’, but when Carrick finally set up Reid for the shot, del Horno charged it down.

Lampard and Drogba had already had already had undynamic efforts from free-kicks just outside the area.

Two minutes later Drogba charged past Gardner up the right and was barged off the ball. Gardner was booked. The match was hotting up.

And two minutes after that Tottenham were down to ten men when Mido led with his arm jumping with del Horno which left the full-back on the ground. Referee Styles immediately waved the red card at the Tottenham striker. Mido exploded and wouldn’t go, and in the fracas that followed Terry was booked.

It took Carrick, Defoe and Mido’s former Marseille strike partner Drogba to calm Mido down before he emotionally left the field. But Drogba’s name was added to Styles’ book when the wall was lining up for the free-kick. Tension was high.

Not long after Essien received a long talking to from Styles after holding Davids and stopping him quickly taking the free-kick. The home crowd bayed for the referee’s blood.

Spurs were defending with a high line which Drogba constantly tried and failed to break, and eight minutes before half-time Chelsea were caught offside for the fifth time.




Del Horno’s great moment came a minute later when he got power on to Lampard’s outswinging corner with a strong header and it bounced in off the post. He had been sprinting in as the corner was taken and stopped suddenly. No-one stopped with him and the header was unchallenged.

The Chelsea choir in the corner behind Cech’s goal were soon in song: “Training session, training session, training session at the Lane…” And Del Horno got his name chanted to the ‘Vialli’ mantra.

Carrick forced a save out of Cech from another free-kick in stoppage time of the first-half, conceded by Makelele, but Chelsea looked well in charge. The referee was booed off at the interval. Maybe Spurs fans should have been booing Mido.

Seven minutes into the second-half frustrated Defoe was lucky not to be booked when diving in late on Ferreira, and from the ensuing free-kick Terry fell badly on the edge of the area as he headed for goal. After lengthy treatment he was able to resume.

A minute before the hour Ferreira charged behind the Spurs defence on to Cole’s threaded pass, and his low cross was only just too fast for Drogba who threw himself at it but couldn’t make contact.

Substitute Lennon had a charge on goal which Terry easily blocked but the home fans screamed for a penalty. Then Cole badly tripped Reid and was booked with the Spurs crowd demanding a sending off. But you could see it was just an accident in the super-charged pace of the game.

Mourinho took no chances. He replaced Cole with Wright-Phillips almost immediately. A minute later Reid was booked for dissent as the tension grew. It felt like both the home team and home crowd were too ‘up’ for the match.

Crespo replaced Drogba midway through the second-half and immediately volleyed for goal. The ball shot between goalkeeper Robinson’s legs as he stood just in front of the line, but clipped his heel and ran along it. The ball was cleared but Wright-Phillips drove in a shot which Robinson had to save diving to his right.

Chelsea’s hold on the game felt complete, and the scoreline reflected that when, with 20 minutes to go, Duff poached his first goal of the season. Wright-Phillips had tortured Kelly with a burst of pace from Makelele’s excellent pass and crossed on the sprint for Duff to finish.




Davids was the next in the book for clattering Lampard. With 11 minutes left Spurs took the risk of sending Dawson to partner Defoe in attack and play with three at the back. Immediately, Terry defeated Kelly on the left of the three with a fantastic 50 yard pass, Wright-Phillips crossed and Crespo’s shot only wasn’t a goal because of Robinson’s world class save, hurling himself to his right.

The Chelsea choir now came up with: “Your season’s over, la-la-la-la-la,” to the Gianfranco Zola mantra.

Crespo splendidly set up Essien on another cutting run through the middle but he shot just wide. In the final minutes Huth went between Gallas and Terry to deal with Dawson, and stoppage time was greeted by the Chelsea choir with a new song: “It’s so empty, it’s so empty, it’s so empty at the Lane,” which was then re-cut to: “It’s like Highbury at the Lane…”

So it’s four League wins out of four this season, eight goals scored, none conceded.


Tottenham: Robinson (c); Stalteri, Dawson, Gardner, Kelly; Tainio (Lennon h-t), Carrick, Davids, Reid; Defoe, Mido (sent off 24).

Chelsea: Cech; Ferreira, Gallas, Terry, Del Horno; Essien, Makelele, Lampard; J Cole (Wright-Phillips 72), Drogba (Crespo 67), Duff (Huth 88). notas_de_prensa_archivo