English Premier League: Harry Kane (16′) Tottenham 2-0 Chelsea
English Premier League: Dele Alli (8′) Tottenham 1-0 Chelsea
LONDON — Three points on Tottenham 3-1 Chelsea at Wembley in the Premier League on Saturday evening.
1. Tottenham walk all over Chelsea
Maurizio Sarri’s unbeaten start as Chelsea manager came to an abrupt halt at Wembley with a rampant Tottenham claiming all three points to climb above their London rivals into third place in the Premier League.
Goals from Dele Alli and Harry Kane inside the opening 16 minutes put Spurs 2-0 ahead as Sarri’s prematch concerns over Chelsea’s slow starts were borne out.
A stunning solo goal from Son Heung-Min on 54 minutes confirmed the victory for Spurs, but their win was never in doubt from the moment Alli headed them into the lead on eight minutes.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men were outstanding, producing their best performance of the season, while Chelsea delivered their worst display since Sarri replaced the sacked Antonio Conte during the summer.
Tottenham looked fresher and sharper in all departments, despite the physical toll experienced by many of their players during the international break. But Chelsea, unbeaten in 18 competitive games under Sarri before this outing, hinted at running out of steam after their impressive start under the former Napoli coach. Having won their first five Premier League games, they have won just two of their past six and have failed to beat Liverpool, Manchester United and now Spurs.
And although Olivier Giroud’s 85th-minute header helped reduce the deficit, it was no more than a consolation goal for the visitors in a comprehensive defeat.
Tottenham had no trouble seeing off Chelsea at Wembley.
2. Kane vs. Morata a mismatch
Alvaro Morata lasted just 58 minutes, but the one positive from the forward’s early substitution was that he had over half an hour to watch Kane show him how it is done.
Morata, 26, is a year older than the Tottenham striker, but watching the two of them on the same pitch makes the Chelsea man look like a novice when it comes to performing the role of a centre-forward.
Kane has had his difficulties this season, with goals not flowing quite as consistently as in the past for the England captain. But against Chelsea, he gave a centre-forward’s masterclass while Morata once again went missing at the other end for Sarri’s team.
Kane was hungry, tenacious, prepared to drop deep in search of the ball, and that desire led directly to his first-half goal, which put Spurs 2-0 up after Alli’s eighth minute opener.
The Spurs No. 10 was also alert to the game around him and prepared to engage in the physical battle that comes with facing the likes of David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger.
Morata was the polar opposite, and he showed just what Chelsea are lacking when it comes to challenging for the title. They do not have a centre-forward capable of scoring 20 goals, but Morata’s biggest failing is that he is not prepared to put in the hard work that makes Kane so impressive.
Morata’s lack of focus is another problem — he is continually offside — and he is simply not good enough to play as centre forward for a club of Chelsea’s stature.
Chelsea endured an evening to forget as their unbeaten Premier League run ended.
3. Luiz a calamity in Chelsea defence
There is one certainty with Luiz. He will either be really good or really bad, and the Chelsea defender lived up — or down, in this case — to his reputation here.
The Brazilian has never been able to shake off the tag applied by Gary Neville, the former Manchester United captain, in 2011 when he was described as playing like a defender “controlled by a 10-year-old on a PlayStation.”
But on his good days, the former Paris Saint-Germain player can be a majestic defender, whose pace, physicality and reading of the game make him the outstanding performer on the pitch.
It is his bad days that really stand out, however, because they can be spectacularly bad. He was all over the place here, and for Tottenham’s second goal, scored by Kane from 25-yards, Luiz committed the cardinal sin for any centre-half by turning his back on the ball as it arrowed towards him. Luiz did worse than that — he arched his back to make sure the ball didn’t hit him, unsighting goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga in the process, to give Kane the most unlikely of goals.
He was then fortunate to avoid a booking for tangling with Kane at a Chelsea free kick, when he left the Spurs man with a ripped shirt that offered cast-iron evidence of his cynical grappling.
Luiz did not get much better after the break, either, with Son racing past him far too easily down the right flank before cutting inside to score an impressive solo goal.
If Luiz had been more alert, or defensively-minded for both Kane and Son’s goals, he could have stopped both of them.
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