Chelsea 2-2 Spurs 14/8/22

Wow! That is what a London Derby should be. The headlines will no doubt be on Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel’s touchline scuffle, but the actual game wasn’t half bad either.

There is no doubt that Chelsea were the better side, they nullified our threat really well. Always having a man to mark Kane or Son when they were dropping deep, which blocked our outlet once we had the ball. Their transition from defence into attack was exceptional. They used their wingbacks really nicely, creating trouble down the flanks. This was how the majority of the game played out, until Conte made his substitutions…

He brought on Ivan Perisic, Richarlison, Lucas Moura and Yves Bissouma. Richarlison came on first, and he added a different dimension to our offensive play. His unselfish runs were creating more space for our other attackers to work in, meaning Chelsea’s system if nullifying Son and Kane couldn’t be maintained. Then Perisic’s impact was fairly simple, his quality got us something from the game. His delicious cross into an area where Spurs had Lucas Moura, Richarlison and Harry Kane all jumping for the same ball. The latter, ended up heading the ball into the far corner, resulting in jubilation in the Spurs end.

I’m not sure we’ve seen too much of this from Conte in his Spurs tenure so far, but it was great to see. At times last season, fans felt that there was a certain stubbornness to Antonio’s approach to the game. However, he later stated that he didn’t feel he had the resources to change the game in certain scenarios. Well, now he does in abundance, so it will be really interesting to see what happens in the coming games. Onwards and upwards, COYS!