Chelsea’s 13-game unbeaten run ended at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. Here’s how Antonio Conte’s men rated in the 2-0 Premier League defeat.
GK: Thibaut Courtois (6/10) – The Belgium international stopper had to be alert when pushing an Eric Dier headed attempt away, but aside, had very little to handle in a the early stages, in which Spurs were restricted to long range efforts from Victor Wanyama and Christian Eriksen. Courtois may feel that he could have done more to prevent Dele Alli’s headed brace from finding the back of his net.
CB: Cesar Azpilicueta (5/10) – Started the game with an over-reactive push on Spurs’ Jan Vertonghen before proceeding to produce an error prone performance. Azpilicueta, usually reliably resilient, struggled against the roaming goal scorer Dele Alli.
CB: David Luiz (6/10) – Floated a 30-yerd free kick over Hugo Lloris’ cross bar and into the White Hart Lane stands on 25 minutes, and was equally off point when vacating his defensive position for Spurs’ first goal. Luiz capped off an erratic display of yester-year by giving the ball away with regularity.
CB: Gary Cahill (5/10) – Booked for a cynical foul on Spurs danger man Eriksen, with the resulting free kick almost providing Spurs with a goal-scoring chance. Cahill looked troubled on numerous occasions against Spurs’ standout duo of Eriksen and Alli.
RWB: Victor Moses (5/10) – Involved in an interesting duel with Spurs’ Danny Rose on Chelsea’s right flank. Moses spent the majority of his time on the pitch tracking his direct opponent and in doing so, was guilty of a handful of fouls during his attempts to contain Rose.
CM: N’Golo Kante (6/10) – The midfielder was guilty of providing Eriksen with space to pick out goal scorer Alli, as the diminutive French international was far too slow to close the Spurs assist. Kante was also found lapsing in possession, with much better distribution needed on this occasion. Consequently, the more creative Cesc Fabregas replaced Kante after 78 minutes.
CM: Nemanja Matic (6/10) – A little one-paced at times and certainly lost out to Mousa Dembele in the battle of the left-footed wand wavers in the midfield engine room.
LWB: Marcos Alonso (6.5/10) – Managed to compete with the usually forward thinking Kyle Walker on Chelsea’s left side. It was Alonso who managed more offensive runs than Walker, but the summer signing from Fiorentina frequently lacked the accuracy needed on the final ball. Replaced by Willian on 65 minutes.
AM: Pedro (6/10) – Returning to the side after suspension, Pedro’s most noticeable contribution to the first half was a caution for a foul on the dangerous Rose. Indeed, Pedro spent a large portion of the open period helping Moses subdue the forward thinking Spurs left back
AM: Eden Hazard (6.5/10) – A mostly understated performance from one of Chelsea’s main protagonists, who found tough competition in the form of Spurs’ three man back line. Hazard missed two excellent chances, one in each half, before disappointingly fading out of the encounter.
FW: Diego Costa (7/10) – Largely frustrated by Spurs’ three central defenders – that manifested itself in Costa’s on-field first half disagreement with team mate Pedro. The Premier League’s current top scorer was afforded space to execute a 35th minute attempt at goal, but uncharacteristically sent his best opportunity of the half high and wide. Costa looked far more threatening in the second half, as he tested Hugo Lloris on multiple occurrences.
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