Tottenham Hotspur made it back to back defeats tonight as they lost 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to their London rivals Chelsea.
If it wasn’t over already, Tottenham’s title challenge is now in tatters, and the North London side will now have to be careful not to get sucked back into a top four brawl.
Here are five things we learned from the defeat:
Kane should not have started
Harry Kane was never involved in the game at all. He looked leggy, his touch was off, and he wasn’t able to find any pockets or space in the box. Pochettino decided to start him against Burnley, but should have rested him tonight and gone for Heung Min Son up front, perhaps alongside Fernando Llorente.
Awful game
You could quite easily count the number of shots on target on one hand for this game, in fact, Chelsea managed to score two goals from just the one on target after Spurs’ horror own goal. Yet again Spurs didn’t seem to be at the races, and nothing close to the form they have shown in recent weeks without Kane.
Lloris mistakes
Not for the first time this season, Hugo Lloris mistakes have cost Tottenham points in the Premier League. The Spurs keeper let a near post shot from Pedro squeeze through his legs for Chelsea’s opener, before running out into no man’s land for Trippier’s own goal, who shares the blame with Lloris.
Rare Alderweireld mistake
Toby Alderweireld had been Tottenham’s best defender up until Pedro’s goal when the Belgian was turned inside out by the winger. It seemed as if Alderweireld had read the play well and was marshalling Pedro towards the byline, before the Spaniard cut inside and left him for dead. Maybe an effect of missing the left-footed, left-sided centre back Vertonghen.
Top four
Tottenham now sit just four points above Arsenal, with a key game against their North London rivals this season. Man United are also a point below the Gunners, and Chelsea two below that. Anything but a win at the weekend could see Tottenham sucked back into a fight for the Champions League spots.
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