Chelsea overcome Tottenham at White Hart Lane

In a very entertaining and engrossing match at White Hart Lane this afternoon, it was Chelsea who came away with the three points as they beat Tottenham 4-2 and moved seven points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

With Andre Vilas-Boas meeting the team that unceremoniously sacked him last March for the first time, fireworks were expected from the match, and it did not disappoint.

Chelsea started brightly, and passed the ball around well in the opening exchanges but were largely equalled by the Tottenham defence. Then on 17 minutes, William Gallas made a mess of a clearing header from a Hazard corner which fell very nicely in the middle of the box for Gary Cahill, who shot a bullet of a volley straight into the top of the net to give Chelsea the opener.

The rest of the first half (which saw five yellow cards being dished out by Mike Dean) was largely unanimated, with only Juan Mata coming close in the 39^th minute when he skied a rebound off Friedel high over the post. That was just the beginning.

The game developed into an absolute classic in the second half as five goals were scored. William Gallas corrected his previous mistake for Tottenham by grabbing the equaliser just two minutes into the second half – he headed (or armed?) a Sigurdsson cutback from a corner just inside the far post.

With new found momentum and desire, Tottenham kept pressing Chelsea further back and were rewarded in the 54^th minute when Aaron Lennon shot across the box from just right of the penalty area straight into the path of Jermain Defoe, who scored a true striker’s goal with a single-touch shot past Cech. Tottenham, having been behind for the first half, were now in the lead.

That lead lasted only 15 minutes though, as Juan Mata equalised for Chelsea in the 66^th minute from a very composed finish into the bottom corner. William Gallas was again to blame as he deflected a relatively harmless Hazard cross right into Mata’s path, who showed no mercy to snatch the equaliser.

With both teams looking to get the goal that would win them the match, it was the brilliance of Eden Hazard that saw him pick out Juan Mata’s run into the box from the middle of the pitch with a through-ball that was inch-perfect. Mata controlled easily and shot in goal to give Chelsea the lead in the 70^th minute.

An unrelenting Tottenham still tried as hard as they could with Defoe and Lennon being the catalysts for their attacks – but they lacked in the final third. The closing moments saw a Walker low-drive denied by Cech who got down just in time.

In injury time, to add insult to injury, Mata sneaked the ball from Walker near Spurs’ penalty area and fed Sturridge a beautiful ball which he tapped into the net with ease and gave Chelsea their fourth.

Andre Vilas-Boas was shouting through the roof when Tottenham scored their second and took the lead, but cut a subdued figure at the end of the match.

With their first win at White Hart Lane since August 2005, Chelsea move seven points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League with 22 points from 8 games, including 7 wins and a draw. Clearly the team to beat, things are looking very good for Robert Di Matteo’s side right now. They next play Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in mid-week.

Chelsea - Cahill (17′), Mata (66′, 70′), Sturridge (92′)

beat

Tottenham Hotspur - Gallas (48′), Defoe (54′)

Yellow Cards – Ivanovic (24′, Chelsea), Huddlestone (37′, Spurs), Gallas (40′, Spurs), Walker (45+1′, Spurs), Ramires (45+3′, Chelsea)

Substitutions – Tottenham – Livermore for Huddlestone (67′), Adebayor for Dempsey (74′), Chelsea – Sturridge for Oscar (83′), Lampard for Hazard (90′)