The Chelsea defender impressed in a key area against Tottenham Hotspur – and yet was still overrun.
To find out how impressive Tottenham were against Chelsea on New Year’s Day, one can access a variety of information.
The scoreline itself tells the story – Mauricio Pochettino’s men put five past the Premier League leaders. Then there are the individual statistics of certain players: Harry Kane was world class, Nacer Chadli immense and the likes of Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Christian Eriksen, Mousa Dembele, Nabil Bentaleb and more all impressive.
But one statistic perhaps does the most justice to Spurs’ display – and it’s one from the Chelsea side of things.
| Match | Tackles Won | Minutes Played | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harrison Reed | Southampton vs Everton | 12 | 90 |
| Jake Livermore | Chelsea vs Hull City | 9 | 90 |
| Cesar Azpilicueta | Tottenham vs Chelsea | 8 | 90 |
Indeed, as Opta data shows, Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta won eight tackles at White Hart Lane – the joint third-highest tally in the Premier League all season.
And yet the Blues were still overrun and Azpilicueta himself often helpless against a rampant Tottenham attack.
That tells a story in itself – in that Spurs were so good that even the division’s best defenders could do nothing to stop them. Yes, they were certainly helped by a poor display from Gary Cahill.
But a determined Azpilicueta won an outstanding tally of eight tackles for Chelsea. And that still wasn’t good enough.
That says a lot.
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