Chelsea
Tottenham HotspurTottenham Had the Ball All Afternoon and Won It From a Corner and a Counter
For almost 40 years Tottenham had left Stamford Bridge without a clean sheet. On a rainy Saturday they finally ended that run, in a match where the team that had the ball was not the team that had the chances. A goalkeeper's punch from a corner and a counter-attack decided it, and in between Cole Palmer, Chelsea's main creator, was sent off for a second yellow card: the first red of his career.
It was Tottenham's first win at Stamford Bridge since April 2018 and only their second in the Premier League, and their first clean sheet there since December 1986. For Chelsea it was a first home league defeat under Xabi Alonso.
Chelsea went in without Joao Pedro and without their first-choice goalkeeper: Mike Penders, 21, made his first league start in place of the injured Emiliano Martinez. It was goalless at half-time and stayed that way until the 77th minute, when the match broke open. Then came a corner, Palmer's red card three minutes later, and a second goal seven minutes after that.
The two teams played in very different ways. Tottenham kept the ball, in long patient spells, and attacked down their left. Chelsea pressed high, but with the ball they played short, direct moves and were most dangerous in the seconds after winning it back. The sections below go through each team in the same order: shape, build-up, attack, defending, transitions and set pieces.
Chelsea
Penders; Acheampong, Lacroix, Colwill; Neto, Caicedo, Henderson, Hato; Palmer, Quenda; Rogers
Subs: Palestra 65', Estevao 72', Welbeck 88'. Palmer sent off 80'.
Tottenham
Kinsky; Gray, Van Hecke, Van de Ven, Robertson; Tonali, Fernandes; Kudus, Maddison, Tel; Marmoush
Subs: Gallagher 51', Solanke and Porro 65', Davies and Kulusevski 89'
Tottenham
Their shape: on paper, in attack, in defence
Build-up
Tottenham played out through the middle. Mateus Fernandes was the one who dropped to receive the ball and find the third-man run, and Tonali dropped back some of the time. James Maddison was the free man between the lines, controlling the middle area and linking the defensive midfield with the attack.
Fernandes had more passes than any other Tottenham player, and more of his touches came in his own third than for Tonali or Maddison: he really was the one dropping. Tottenham rarely lost the ball playing out, so Chelsea's press hardly ever forced them into mistakes.
Attack
They attacked mostly down their own left. Robertson was higher than Gray on the other side, Tel stayed in that lane almost all match, and more than half of their passes into the final third ended there. Tottenham's possessions were long and patient: one move of 25 passes involved all eleven players and ran from their own half to Chelsea's third.
The best move of the first half came from that side. In the 28th minute Maddison took the ball deep on the left, Robertson and Tel exchanged passes near the byline, and Robertson's cut-back gave Marmoush the one big chance of the match, saved by Penders.
Tottenham had 68% of the ball and 15 shots, but the shots were worth only 0.74 expected goals: seven were blocked and only four were on target. Their long possessions produced very little. Of their eleven open-play shots, only three came from settled possession.
Defending
Without the ball Tottenham dropped into a rough 4-4-2, with Tel and Kudus wide and Maddison and Marmoush up front, mostly in their own half. Chelsea hardly got through them: they completed only 14 passes into Tottenham's final third in the whole match. Tottenham's back line did step up when Chelsea tried to play out on their left: Van Hecke was just inside Chelsea's half to meet the ball at the 21st, 38th and 66th minutes. In the air they were dominant, winning 17 of 24 aerial duels, which is why Chelsea's long balls rarely worked.
Transitions
The match turned on what Tottenham did the moment they won the ball. Eight of their eleven open-play shots came within 15 seconds of winning it back, including the second goal, which came seven seconds after Tel took the ball. They did not counter-press much: when they lost it in the other half, they won it straight back only about one time in ten.
Set pieces
Fernandes took five of Tottenham's six corners, always from their left, and the first goal came from one of them. More on this in the corners section below.
Chelsea
Their shape: on paper, in attack, in defence
Build-up
At about ten minutes Chelsea built the other way round. Four players stayed at the back, Caicedo and Henderson dropped to receive from the four defenders, and Neto pushed on to become an attacker. Palmer was the option in midfield if the midfield struggled to move the ball forward.
The shape worked on the right and not on the left. Neto spent most of his touches in the final third, while Colwill and Hato were left to start everything on the other side. After every short goal kick the ball went to Colwill, then to the left wing-back, and in three of the four it was lost within six seconds. Their five long goal kicks all failed to find a Chelsea player.
Attack
Chelsea played short and direct. Their possessions were brief, usually three passes or fewer, and only three ever reached ten passes. The attack ran through Neto on the right, Palmer drifting into the pockets, and Rogers as the only man up front. Without Joao Pedro there was no reference point: Rogers lost every one of the seven aerial duels he contested, six of them against Van Hecke, and was dispossessed three times. Chelsea completed just one of eight open-play crosses.
Seven shots and 0.43 expected goals was Chelsea's lowest of the season, and their last shot came in the 74th minute. Palmer led them for chances created, with two, tried five take-ons and won one. Long balls and crosses had nowhere to go without a target man.
Defending
Without the ball Chelsea dropped into a 4-4-2 with Palmer and Rogers up front, Neto and Quenda wide, and a press aimed at Tottenham's build-up. For the first 45 minutes they engaged it well: they won a quarter of their balls back in Tottenham's half, twice Tottenham's share, and Caicedo led the way with four interceptions while Hato made the most tackles. But the press did not hold. Their front two did little (Palmer made two defensive actions in the first half, Rogers three), Chelsea lost more duels than they won, and between the 45th and 65th minutes they dropped back. As Alonso put it: "we wanted high pressing but we were not strong enough in duels." After the red card they became a 4-4-1.
Transitions
This was where Chelsea were at their best. Five of their six open-play shots came within 15 seconds of winning the ball, including Palmer's and Neto's efforts in the 61st minute. They did not counter-press much either: when they lost the ball in the other half they won it straight back only about one time in fifteen. At 86:15 the same instinct cost them: with most of the team up on one side, Tottenham broke into the space they left (see the second goal below).
Set pieces
Chelsea took four corners and none found a team-mate. At the other end they have now conceded eight set-piece goals this season, double any other side. More in the corners section below.
How the goals came
Goal 1 · 77' · Penders (own goal)
80' · Palmer sent off
Goal 2 · 87' · Tel
Goal 1: the corner
The young goalkeeper had done well up to then, with three saves, but he made a silly mistake on an inswinging corner, punching the ball the wrong way into his own net. The corner landed in the middle of the six-yard box. Penders is the second Chelsea goalkeeper to score an own goal in the Premier League, after Petr Cech in December 2009.
Goal 2: the space behind
Look at where everybody was at 86:15. Three Chelsea players and five Tottenham players were on the same side of the pitch, near the ball. That left Chelsea with nobody at the back but one defender. It opened up the space behind them, and that is what caused the second goal.
The answer for De Zerbi and his team then came from Tel: a perfect run from the side, dribbling past Acheampong and Lacroix. He ran side by side with a Chelsea defender along the touchline, pulled away, cut inside and shot.
Palmer's first yellow was for barging into Fernandes's head as the Tottenham midfielder knelt, which De Zerbi thought deserved a red card on its own. The second was for a foul on Conor Gallagher. It was Chelsea's 100th Premier League red card, and the first of Palmer's career.
Corners
Chelsea took four corners and none found a team-mate. Tottenham took six and had two shots from them as well as the own goal.
Alonso also made a decision at his own corners. He kept four players high on the pitch, to pull Tottenham's midfielders and attackers back and keep Spurs on their toes. At each of Chelsea's four corners between two and four Chelsea players stayed outside the packed penalty area, while most of Tottenham's outfield players stood in and around their six-yard box.
Maddison's injury and the second half
Tottenham could not keep the same shape and intensity in the second half, and Maddison's injury was a big part of the reason. In the first half he had covered the small pockets between the lines very well, positioning himself to receive the ball. He made his last pass in the 46th minute and went off in the 51st. In those minutes Tottenham's passing slowed to about half its first-half rate, and it picked up again once Gallagher came on.
Gallagher played the same position but was far less involved: 16 passes in 39 minutes against Maddison's 42 in 51. He did not change the shape much. It took Tel's run to settle the match.
The match in numbers
| Chelsea | Tottenham | |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 32% | 68% |
| Expected goals (xG) | 0.43 | 0.74 |
| Shots (on target) | 7 (4) | 15 (4) |
| Corners | 4 | 6 |
| Duels won | 45 | 64 |
| Red cards | 1 | 0 |
Mathys Tel
The man of the match is Tel, for his work on the left and for the speed he brought to every counter-attack. He was the left side of Tottenham's attack all afternoon, and he finished the match with a run no Chelsea defender could stop. He has the highest rating in the game, 8.0, level with Kinsky. Fernandes made a strong case too: the most passes in the team and the engine of the whole build-up.
Chelsea's best-rated player was Pedro Neto, 6.9: high on the right, two shots, and the save he forced from Kinsky around the hour.
Who made the difference
The left side of the attack and the winning counter.
Four saves and a clean sheet. All four of his goal kicks were long, and none found a Tottenham player.
Won six aerial duels against Rogers, and made the challenge on Penders before the own goal.
Wide on the right, and dangerous in the final third.
The most passes in the team, five of the six corners, and the one who dropped to start the build-up.
High on the left; his cut-back made the best chance of the match.
The attacker of the back-four build-up, two shots and a save forced from Kinsky.
The captain: four interceptions, and the midfielder who dropped to start Chelsea's build-up.
The busiest Chelsea player, and the start of every short goal kick.
Alone up front: seven aerial duels, none won, three times dispossessed.
Led Chelsea for chances created, then collected two yellow cards in nine minutes.
Three saves, then the own goal on his first league start. Alonso: "We win and we lose together."
What this match told us
Tactically
De Zerbi's Tottenham got through Chelsea's high press by dropping the midfield: Fernandes deep, Tonali sometimes, Maddison free between the lines. They kept the ball and attacked down the left, but their patient possession produced little, and their best chances came in the moments after winning it back. Alonso's Chelsea pressed high on purpose, lost the duels, found no way out of their own half and had no focal point without Joao Pedro. Their threat came on the break. Neither side's plan produced much until the match broke open. As De Zerbi put it afterwards: "Now we are a complete team."
Individually
Tel was the difference, with Fernandes and Robertson close behind him. For Chelsea, Neto carried what threat there was, while Palmer's second yellow cost his team the match. Penders will remember a punch he would like back, though Alonso refused to blame him.
The story of the match
A sending-off between two goals decided how the last 17 minutes were played. For Tottenham it was a first win at Stamford Bridge since April 2018 and a first clean sheet there since December 1986. For Chelsea it was a first home league defeat under Alonso, and Palmer will remember it as the day he got his first red card. Chelsea are fourth with 13 points and Tottenham 12th with nine.