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Two first half goals from Willian secured Chelsea bragging rights as they beat ten-man Tottenham 2-0 in North London.
Chelsea were dominant throughout a fixture which was marred by allegations of racist abuse reported directed towards defender Antonio Rudiger.
The win sees Frank Lampard’s Chelsea pull away from Tottenham in the fight for Champions League places whilst Chelsea also become the club who has won the most Premier League London derbies (129).
Chelsea started in a 3-4-3 shape, synonymous with their style under former manager Antonio Conte, looking to break a run of four defeats in five league matches.
Lampard’s team controlled the opening exchanges and deservedly took the lead on 12 minutes, Willian firing a well-struck effort past Paulo Gazzaniga after catching Spurs sleeping at a corner.
Chelsea pressure only grew as the first half ensued, the Blues enjoying their first visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Moussa Sissoko’s cut-back to Harry Kane on 26 minutes signalled Spurs’ first meaningful chance before Heung-Min Son squandered another opportunity moments later for the hosts.
Tottenham’s inability to clear their lines frustrated both the home faithful and José Mourinho, the latter waving frantically along with assistant Joao Sacramento in order to try and give instructions to his players.
Chelsea were gifted a chance to make it two when Paulo Gazzaniga mindlessly fouled Marcos Alonso inside the penalty area. Willian stepped up confidently and scored his and Chelsea’s second of the game to give the visitors a two-goal lead at the break.
Christian Eriksen replaced Eric Dier at half time and the Tottenham performance seemed to improve, the Dane at least advancing the ball from midfield into the Chelsea final third.
Tammy Abraham rightly had a goal disallowed for offside before VAR once ruled against the home side to make their task even tougher, when Son was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Rudiger while grounded.
Jose Mourinho was then talked to by referee Anthony Taylor as things went from bad to worse for the Portuguese manager and his team.
The visitors introduced Italian playmaker Jorginho in an attempt to slow the game down further, and henceforth Spurs’ only opportunities came from set-pieces.
Then came the tannoy announcements.
Repeatedly over the tannoy system within the stadium, Spurs’ announcer stated that racism was impacting the match. In a match of rivalry and tension, the presence of racism takes the focus off of the pitch with the home club being very firm in their stance by repeating the announcement several times seemingly to no accord.
On the pitch, any attempts for the home side to get back into the fixture were easily thwarted by Chelsea’s defence, who before this fixture had only kept one clean sheet in their previous 17 away games.
This was a fine win for Lampard’s men as the former Chelsea midfielder emerged victorious to spark wild celebrations from the 41-year-old in front of the travelling fans.
Former Blues boss Jose Mourinho’s run of never losing any of his previous 13 home matches against his former clubs comes to an end, Tottenham humbled by an impressive Chelsea performance in North London.
But the fallout from the racist chanting may overshadow that.
Tottenham XI: Gazzaniga, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen (Ndombele, 74), Dier (Eriksen, 45), Sissoko, Dele, Son, Lucas (Rose, 74), Kane
Tottenham unused substitutes: Vorm, Foyth, Winks, Lo Celso
Chelsea XI: Kepa, Rudiger, Tomori, Zouma, Azpilicueta (James, 80), Alonso, Kante, Kovacic (Jorginho, 68), Willian, Mount, Abraham (Batshuayi, 80)
Chelsea unused substitutes: Caballero, Christensen, Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic
