Chelsea proved a nemesis for their former manager Antonio Conte after they defeated Tottenham 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to end Conte's 9-game unbeaten Premier League run as Tottenham manager.
Two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half proved enough for the three points. Hakim Ziyech with a stunning opener and Thiago Silva with a stellar header sealed the win.
Thomas Tuchel looked to have switched to a back three after bringing on Malang Sarr into the line up, dropping Marcos Alonso in one of the two changes made to his team.
After an impressive cameo in their late win against Leicester City, Steven Bergwijn got the nod to start in attack as Conte made four changes to his side.
It was all Chelsea in the opening exchanges as they looked to unsettle their visitors. Chances fell to Romelu Lukaku, who had to back track to meet a cut back by Mason Mount to fire a right-footed effort over the bar. Then Calum Hudson-Odoi also missed from an acute close range when he couldn't guide his header from an Hakim Ziyech cross on target.
Both goalkeepers did not really have much to do as efforts towards their goal were not so testing. Ziyech twisted and turned to create space for himself, but ended up firing a tame shot at Hugo Lloris. Harry Winks also charged forward and was fortunate to get enough space, putting power behind his effort from the edge of the box. Kepa Arrizabalaga had to go down to make a fine save.
It looked like the breakthrough came when Harry Kane found the back of the net from a cut back from Ryan Sessegnon. VAR review ruled out the goal for a foul on Thiago Silva by Kane.
The second half exploded again with Chelsea calling the shots. They needed just two minutes after the restart to finally breach Tottenham. A charge down the left flank by Hudson-Odoi culminated in him sending a cross-field pass to Ziyech, who took a touch to open up his body and send a stunning curler into the far left corner that Lloris could only watch as it went in.
The Moroccan almost made the brilliance two a few seconds later after Mason Mount saw his shot blocked off by the Tottenham defence. The ball fell to Ziyech on the edge of the box and he hit a one-time effort, this time through his laces and forced a good save off Lloris.
There was no denying Chelsea eight minutes after their first goal when their lead was doubled. Having won a free kick on the left, Mount sent a cross into the mix of players in the box and Silva got in between two Tottenham defenders to glance his header into the far bottom corner.
The second goal seemed to have woken Tottenham from their slumber as they began their onslaught of the Chelsea goal. Kane surged down the left side before his cross was headed out by the Chelsea defence, but only as far as Oliver Skipp, who headed it down for Bergwijn to hit first time. Kepa was alert to make the save.
Kane himself put Kepa to test in the final minutes of the game after he rose highest to meet a corner, which Kepa produced a reactionary save to deny the striker, hurting himself in the process.
**Concluding Thoughts**
A good return to winning ways for Chelsea, especially in front of their home fans after having failed to win in their last three home games.
It was a fantastic game for Ziyech as we saw glimpses of what he is capable of on his day. His two attempts on target, one of which he scored show the kind of quality he can bring to a team. I've since heard a lot of Chelsea fans say that is the Ziyech they paid Ajax for. In their shoes, I will not get carried away because it is not the first time the Moroccan will put up a fine performance then fail to follow it up with more consistent outings. The coming weeks will tell, if of course he stays injury free.
VAR was at the Centre again for the disallowed Kane goal. Football is a contact sport and of course, there was a contact between Kane and Silva in the build up to that goal, but the question is if the contact was enough to take the Chelsea defender down. Replays showed the contact looked minimal and shouldn't have warranted the goal being chalked off. That obviously would have been a turning point in that game. Again, VAR took the day.
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