Premier League 2018/19: 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to Chelsea

#2 Spurs lacked penetration going forward

Spurs' forward line - including Erik Lamela - offered little penetration against Chelsea's defence

One telling statistic after the game was that this was the first time under Mauricio Pochettino that Tottenham failed to register a shot on target throughout the game. That’s almost unfair as Harry Winks did hit the bar in the first half, but from a Spurs perspective, the fact that Winks’ shot from outside the box was their closest attempt is hugely disappointing.

This was a rare example of all Tottenham’s attacking talent simply having an off-night. Harry Kane was far too isolated up front – you can hardly blame him as he wasn’t really given any chances – and Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Heung Min Son simply didn’t offer much penetration going forward at all.

Pochettino’s substitutions – introducing Fernando Llorente for Lamela and Lucas Moura for Son – didn’t really help matters either. For some reason it felt like every time Spurs pushed forward, they slowed the game down and seemed to want to pass the ball into the net – which made Chelsea’s defensive job far too easy. Spurs have plenty of attacking riches, but none of them looked on top form tonight.