In a crucial fixture which had the power to decide the Champions League qualification, Chelsea came over the North Londoners and registered a comprehensive victory of 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. In their previous fixture, Chelsea had lost to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United by a margin of 2-0 which had reduced their 6 points lead to three points.
On the other hand, Jose Mourinho came into the fixture after his side endured a loss against RB Leipzig in their home stadium in the Champions League round of 16 fixture. Also, Jose Mourinho was without his South Korean attacker, Heung Min Son after losing him with an arm fracture.
On the drop of their loss to Manchester United, Chelsea started the game with an intent to seal the game against Tottenham Hotspurs. Frank Lampard fielded the French striker, Oliver Giroud who has played only 22 minutes in the Premier League. However, Giroud didn’t disappoint his manager and the fans of Chelsea Football Club. He scored the first goal for the side in the opening 15 minutes of the game.
Even after scoring the goal, Chelsea didn’t stop posing the threat to Tottenham’s defense. Chelsea were attacking in numbers and it was difficult for the Mourinho managed side to contain them. However, the scoreline remained the same at the end of the first half.
In the second half too, Chelsea started with an intent to double up their lead and it soon yielded the results for Frank Lampard’s side. Marcos Alonso, who hasnt featured in a single game in the past 8 fixtures of Blues, drilled the volley in the 48th minute to double the lead.
Moreover, the match would have ended up in the misery for Jose Mourinho where there was a possibility in the 52nd-minute to send off Giovani Lo Celso. Giovani Lo Celso stamped Cesar Azpilicueta’s ankle but neither the referee nor the VAR found it out during the game. However, Premier League admitted later that VAR failed out spot out the issue and issue the red card.
Trying for a comeback, Tottenham tried relentlessly and their effort yielded in the 89th minute when Erik Lamela pulled a goal back for Lillywhites. The ball went past the shot-stopper of Chelsea after deflecting off Antonio Rudiger’s heels. However, this wasn’t enough to save the point as Chelsea held on to the lead and took all three points.
After their victory against Lillywhites, Chelsea will end their Gameweek 28 in the fourth place whereas Tottenham might end up dropping to the seventh position if other results go against them.
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham
Enjoy! 😉 pic.twitter.com/c3QI13Z8Ks
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 22, 2020
Words by managers regarding the game:
Frank Lampard, Chelsea manager, lamented about the VAR and asked for more perfection. He said:
It is not good enough, that is two VARs in two games, it is hard to shout about it when you have lost but today everybody saw that,”
“I hate to call for red cards but that is a leg breaker. I am not saying about referees on the spot, VAR is here to clear things up and it is not good enough.
On the other hand, Jose Mourinho asked the reasons for previous misses of VAR and asked for more consistency. He also brought up the previous instances to the play. Portuguese tactician opined:
“I hope the noise is the same noise as when VAR kills us,”
“Against Liverpool, [Andy] Robertson should get a red card.
“Watford, [Etienne] Capoue should get a red card twice with the same referee. Why didn’t they say when they made a mistake vs. Liverpool?”
