‘Kept saying to myself’ – Chelsea star admits he tried to get Spurs player sent off

Callum Hudson-Odoi has admitted he tried luring Japhet Tanganga into receiving a second yellow card during Tottenham’s defeat at Chelsea on Sunday.

Tottenham were beaten 2-0 by the Blues in the Premier League on Sunday, in what was the club’s fourth defeat of the season against the hosts.

Antonio Conte’s men were immediately on the back foot against Chelsea, with the home side often keen to target Spurs from the wide areas.

Tanganga, who was the starting wing-back on the right side for Spurs, was tasked with trying to keep Chelsea’s Hudson-Odoi quiet.

But that was made to be even more challenging when the Spurs youngster picked up a first-half caution for fouling the talented winger.

Knowing another foul would result in him getting sent off, Tanganga couldn’t get too close to Hudson-Odoi in the second half, who breezed past him to set up Hakim Ziyech’s opener.

Hudson-Odoi has since shared that Tanganga’s early yellow card made him an easy target and the Chelsea star admitted he looked to get at the Spurs defender to force another mistake.

Speaking to Premier League Productions (January 23, 6:50 pm), he said: “I knew in the first half that he got the booking.

“So, I said to myself, ‘If you keep being direct at him, keep going at him, then hopefully he is going to pull you or foul you to try and get a second booking’.

“I just kept saying to myself, ‘Keep going at him and get him booked again’.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Tanganga’s early yellow card all but doomed him in his battle to mark Hudson-Odoi and we have seen before that he is not at his best when on the back foot. It was a tough evening all around for him and maybe Conte should have looked to take him off at half-time, knowing that he was on a tightrope.

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