Tottenham 0 Chelsea 0
It probably says a lot about Chelsea's decline this season that Tottenham Hotspur will be disappointed they could not make such a harrowing title defence even more of an ordeal. Mauricio Pochettino's team have now gone 13 matches unbeaten, their best run since November 1984 to March 1985 when Peter Shreeves was manager and Ossie Ardiles was flitting around in midfield, but they did not have the wit or creativity to add to Chelsea's troubles on the day José Mourinho decided Diego Costa was no longer worthy of a place in his team.
Mourinho’s decision to leave Costa on the bench certainly jarred with his claim they had resolved their argument during the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv last Tuesday. If there were “kisses and cuddles” as the Chelsea manager says, it was followed by the cold shoulder here. When Mourinho made his substitutions it was Kenedy and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who were instructed to come to the touchline and, for Costa, it was not far off a public humiliation given that Chelsea did not have another fit or available striker in the squad.
Instead, Eden Hazard was given the front role and Chelsea can be encouraged by the way they subdued a Spurs team that had scored at least three times in three of their last four matches at White Hart Lane. Chelsea still have not managed back-to-back league wins this season but they did gradually emerge as the more likely winners and, with John Terry injured, they can also feel relatively satisfied about limiting Spurs to only a couple of decent chances in the first half and virtually nothing after the interval. This was Chelsea’s first clean sheet away from Stamford Bridge in the league this season and in their position, enduring the worst season of the Abramovich era, that at least feels like a start, even if they still looked a long way short of being the team of last season.
At times it was alarming to see the number of times a midfielder with Cesc Fàbregas’s gifts misplaced the kind of passes that would once have been routine. Fàbregas still has the right ideas but it is the accuracy that has deserted him, at one point playing a free-kick straight into touch. Nemanja Matic is still not influencing the games in the manner of old and, though Hazard offered some tantalising glimpses of last season’s form, it was probably unfair to expect him to take on Costa’s role seamlessly.
Hazard’s slashing volley was denied by a fine save from Hugo Lloris midway through the second half but his misplaced header after Oscar’s cross had set up the outstanding chance of the first half exposed the obvious flaw of using a wide player as a centre-forward. Willian did give Chelsea’s attacking thrusts some energy and directness, while Pedro and Oscar buzzed around, but overall the tactic of not playing with an orthodox striker worked only sporadically. Whatever is eating away at Costa, Chelsea will be a much more rounded team when, or if, manager and player can sort out what has been going wrong and find a way to fix it.
Tottenham had a more conventional formation with Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min operating either side of Harry Kane. They started off as the more dangerous team but their passing was disappointing for a team that had been unbeaten on this ground all season and the natural temptation was to suspect Thursday's trip in Azerbaijan in the Europa League may have taken away some of their sharpness. Spurs tailed off badly in the second half and did not pass the ball well enough to get behind the visitors' defence.
In the first half, the two sides had taken it in turns to have 10-minute spells of marginal superiority. Spurs must have been grateful it was Hazard, rather than Costa, with the headed opportunity to open the scoring but they also had a similar chance and Kane’s right-wing cross deserved better than Son tamely heading the ball straight at Asmir Begovic.
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