Tottenham 3-5

Independent:

Harry Kane's double helps Tottenham put five past Jose Mourinho's Chelsea

Tottenham 5 Chelsea 3: John Terry consolation sees Chelsea stay top of the table - but only alphabetically

Sam Wallace


In the aftermath, Jose Mourinho simply blamed the referee again, an old trick of his but one that he has used to certain effect over the years. Yet even he will know that with every deployment this excuse becomes that bit less of a distraction from the real show.

The real show was that his Chelsea team were well-beaten by a Tottenham Hotspur side sparked into life by a marvellous equaliser from Harry Kane on 27 minutes, the first of his two goals, that changed the course of the game. The young Englishman tormented the Chelsea defence, in particular Gary Cahill who also conceded a penalty to the striker and ended the game by helplessly booting Kane in the back as he lay prone on the turf.

That was one way of summing up Chelsea’s afternoon of frustration, and Cahill was fortunate that referee Phil Dowd did not see it. The truth for the league leaders is that they looked jaded, in particular their leading lights such as Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, Nemanja Matic and Cahill which is a concern for Mourinho as he tried to navigate the season with as few changes as possible to his line-up.

The Chelsea manager once again embarked on one of his criticisms of the match official, making the assumption that everyone in the room will have thought that a first half handball appeal against Jan Vertonghen was a penalty. That was a cause for debate. What was less convincing was the Chelsea manager’s claim that at two goals up Chelsea would never have lost the game.

Judging by the way Kane shredded Mourinho’s defence, anything was possible on this occasion. This is not the way Mourinho’s team are supposed to lose, with the goals flying in at either end and defence dominated by attack. A Chelsea team of his had never conceded four before, let alone five.

All this and Frank Lampard’s second match-winning goal of the season for Chelsea’s title rivals Manchester City against Sunderland. Days do not come much worse for Chelsea, who now lead the Premier League by virtue of alphabetical order from City with whom they have an identical record.

After such an indifferent start to the season, Mauricio Pochettino must take great credit for his club’s first win over Chelsea since April 2010 and his first over Mourinho as a manager. Their attacking spirit was embodied by Kane whose two goals take him to 17 for the season and mark the further emergence of an unorthodox but beguiling English talent.

It was the kind of game you might expect at the end of a draining Christmas run of matches, and it was compelling entertainment. When Chelsea beat Spurs 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in early December, the game as good as over as soon as the home team took the lead. This time Spurs’ response to falling behind was very different.

The away team were calling the shots for the first 17 minutes in the build-up to their goal. The tempo was just how Mourinho’s players wanted it, Matic mopped up the occasional problems in midfield and when the ball dropped to the feet of Eden Hazard on the left wing there was always danger.

At right-back, Kyle Walker, playing just his fourth league game of the season was having one of those days when it must have felt like he had his boots on the wrong feet. There were some familiar grumblings from the home fans around the dugout. Ryan Mason hobbled off with a strain and it took around four minutes for the ball to go out of play so Pochettino could replace him with Mousa Dembele.

When Costa scored the goal that gave Chelsea the lead, the story was taking a familiar shape. It was Hazard who made the chance, getting free on the right side and hitting a shot that struck the post. Oscar aimed for goal with the rebound and it fell for Costa who guided it over the line from close range.

With Spurs vulnerable, Mourinho’s side did not create the chances to score the second and they paid for it. Kane’s equaliser came from nothing and it gave his team-mates the confidence to assert themselves in the game.

Kane cut in from the left with Oscar trailing in his wake, and as soon as he sensed the space to pivot and shoot he did so, pinging a right foot shot beyond Thibaut Courtois’ right hand and into the corner of the Chelsea goal.

For the final 15 minutes of the half, Spurs matched their opponents but most crucially they took their chances. A mistake by Cesar Azpilicueta turned over possession on 44 minutes and Christian Eriksen was in, slipping a ball through the retreating back line to Nacer Chadli whose shot struck the post. With the ball loose, Danny Rose got to it a just before Cahill to score.

It was Cahill who gave away the penalty minutes later, once again fractionally late, this time on Kane and clearly tripped the striker. It had become giddy at White Hart Lane even before Andros Townsend slotted a left footed penalty past Courtois with the final kick of the half.

These are the kind of days that they live for at Spurs, although when they went three goals ahead six minutes after the break there was a mild disbelief. This was a game they had barely had a toehold in for the first 15 minutes and yet here was Kane again, spinning away from Matic and confidently placing the ball past Courtois for his 17th of the season.

It would become heated on the Chelsea bench later, when Mourinho complained bitterly about the slowness with which the ball was returned to play. Then he would rage against a challenge by Federico Fazio on Hazard. Before then Chelsea brought the score back to 4-2, Hazard exchanging passes with Fabregas to score.

It took a save from Hugo Lloris to stop a strike from Azpilicueta before Chadli scored the fifth, a deflected shot off John Terry. The Chelsea captain scored the third for his team, arriving at the far post unmarked. Before the end, Mourinho reached across for the handshakes with the opposite bench, although it was with rather less flourish this time.


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Guardian:


Tottenham stun Chelsea in thriller after Harry Kane opens the floodgates

Spurs 5 - 3 Chelsea

Dominic Fifield at White Hart Lane

This was the evening Chelsea’s title pursuit, for the first time this season, was made to look fragile. Even unlikely. A side who pride themselves on an ability to ally thrilling attacking play with stingy defence were picked apart and embarrassed across the capital, wilting in the face of Tottenham Hotspur’s eager energy and attacking threat, and eclipsed by a homegrown forward who has never played better. Memories of this riotous occasion will sustain Harry Kane through the winter.

The England Under-21 international scored twice, earned a penalty and supplied Nacer Chadli with the hosts’ fifth as the majority in this arena revelled in a victory that felt barely credible. José Mourinho’s teams are not thrashed in this way. Never before had he conceded four while in charge of Chelsea, and this was only the second time in a 14-year managerial career the Portuguese had watched powerless as his charges shipped five. The new year has already seen their lead at the top shredded. Manchester City boast an identical record at present courtesy of a winning goal plundered by Frank Lampard up at the Etihad stadium earlier in the day. Those at the top are separated only on alphabetical order. The race has another twist to digest.

Perhaps fatigue played its part, with this a third awkward away trip in four matches in a congested period, but frailties which had not previously been apparent were exposed too often across Chelsea’s back line for comfort. Spurs may have been clinical, but the visitors were brittle and all the complaints about the non-award of a penalty when Oscar prodded a ball against the grounded Jan Vertonghen’s arm smacked of deflection tactics. There were real deficiencies here to spark concern, rather than conspiracy theories to expose.

Nemanja Matic was unable to stamp his usual authority on this contest. Gary Cahill has quelled the threat of Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez at times during his career, but Kane left him dazed and confused. The centre-half’s frustration erupted when the ball was stuck under the forward’s body on the touchline late on, the kicks to the back and calf apparently not noticed by the referee, Phil Dowd. The Football Association may choose to scrutinise that incident more carefully in the days ahead.

In truth, the entire Chelsea defence appeared flustered and uncharacteristically vulnerable, disconcerted by the aggressive running of Chadli and Andros Townsend down the flanks but, most of all, by Kane’s excellence. The forward is improving with every outing, his display here the best of a fledgling career to date from the moment he collected on the left and cut in-field with Oscar hesitant. Free of a challenge, the striker merely skimmed a shot into the corner from 20 yards and, instantly, the hosts’ conviction was stoked.

Tottenham were rampant in what little time remained up until the interval, Christian Eriksen scuttling forward to liberate Chadli behind Cahill. Thibaut Courtois charged to the edge of his area to intercept but his compatriot’s shot was poked beyond the goalkeeper and on to the far post, with Danny Rose bravely belting in the rebound to record a first league goal here since a derby winner on debut against Arsenal in April 2010. He was bruised while converting, though not as wounded as the visitors. Chelsea were still wheezing in disbelief when Cahill upended Kane as the striker appeared on his blindside. Townsend, the third youth-team graduate turned goalscorer, thumped in the resultant penalty.

Mourinho attempted to wrest back some control by introducing Ramires at the interval but his team’s rearguard were shellshocked. When Chadli pinned back Branislav Ivanovic and shifted possession inside to Kane, the young English forward turned Matic far too easily and curled a fourth through John Terry’s legs with Courtois helpless. The fifth, converted by Chadli, also flicked off the centre-half. “Chelsea are one of the best in the world, at Real Madrid level,” offered Mauricio Pochettino. This was the first time in eight attempts that he has beaten a Mourinho team. “A great victory. We deserved the victory. We were better than Chelsea.”

They were still anxious at times, particularly in the period after Diego Costa had pilfered an early lead. Eden Hazard had collected Courtois’ 60-yard throw, retained his balance under Rose’s challenge and struck the far post with a shot. Costa dangled a leg at that effort from an offside position but Oscar collected at the far post and, when he fired back across the diving Hugo Lloris, the forward poked in legitimately from close-range. The visitors’ other rewards were plucked from a game of catch-up, Hazard skipping forward to exchange passes with Cesc Fàbregas to make it 4-2 and Terry tapping home the Belgian’s cross for 5-3. A thrill in the attacking play was retained, but this was a performance undermined by slackness at the other end. The advantage at the top is no more, with only one win secured in five away games. Christmas has not been kind to the leaders.

Man of the match Harry Kane (Tottenham)


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Telegraph:

Tottenham Hotspur 5 Chelsea 3

Jose Mourinho suffers humiliation at White Hart Lane

By  Henry Winter


With 10 minutes left, White Hart Lane reverberated to the rare sound of Spurs fans singing “we want six”. Chelsea’s celebrated defence were being ripped apart by Harry Kane, who scored twice, caused mayhem and embarrassed such good centre-halves as John Terry and Gary Cahill.

Kane was unplayable at times, too strong, too determined and the model of composure when enduring some rough challenges. Cahill’s frustration grew so inexorably that it eventually spilled over, the defender kicking the prostrate Kane in the back and fortunate to escape sanction. But the main pain was being inflicted by Kane.

This was only the second time in Jose Mourinho’s career that one of his teams had conceded five goals. The only consolation for Mourinho was that his side stay top of the Premier League. Just. Chelsea and Manchester City boast identical records, having each won 14, drawn four, lost two, scored 44 goals and conceded 19. Chelsea’s third, from Terry, guaranteed the similar stats and kept his team ahead of Manchester City on alphabetical grounds. City fans immediately proposed they revert to Ardwick.

The game did trigger some change in the table, particularly enjoyable movement for Spurs, who leapfrogged Arsenal into fifth. Kane was deservedly voted man of the match. Every burst of movement alarmed Chelsea. Almost every pass found its intended target. This was a ruthlessly efficient performance.

As a centre-forward, Kane offers a range of options, being able to hold up play or operate as a run-through striker. He makes Mauricio Pochettino’s 4-2-3-1 system work, giving them an outlet and allowing the Spurs head coach to deploy sufficient numbers in the centre, combating Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic and restricting the service to Diego Costa.

The Spaniard still scored, even being first to show while Eden Hazard, who was immense, and Terry also found the mark but this was Tottenham’s evening, an evening when they lived up to their mantra of “to dare is to do”. Pochettino has filled them with belief. His players showed they could live with the heavyweights, demonstrating they could mix up their styles, passing and moving, counter-attacking and revealing their resilience. Too often in the past Spurs laboured against Chelsea, whose fans have come to refer to this place as Three Point Lane. Not here. Not now. Some defensive concerns remain but this was not a night to quibble.

Before kick-off, Spurs broadcast footage on their large screens of past players punishing Chelsea, including jinking runs from David Ginola and powerful shooting from Teddy Sheringham, seeking to inspire their supporters and team. The current generation was duly inspired, particularly Kane.

The most astonishing game of the Premier League season actually began with the visitors taking the lead after 18 minutes. Hazard wriggled past the sluggish Rose, advancing into the box, and shooting from right to left, the ball rebounding back from the far upright. Oscar was quickest to the loose ball, drilling it back into the six-yard box where Costa turned the ball home for his 14th Premier League goal of the season, taking him alongside Sergio Aguero at the top of the scoring list: 0-1.

Was the Chelsea juggernaut going to career across the Lane? Kane and his vibrant young company refused to countenance the idea. So unfolded a period of play that Spurs fans will never forget. On the half-hour, Rose collected the ball and passed to Kane down the left. Branislav Ivanovic stood off, and Kane took off, cutting inside, past Oscar, Fabregas and then Oscar again before finishing with a low 25-yard shot: 1-1.

Chelsea were stunned, and did not regroup quickly enough. Spurs went for the jugular again. Kane was now over on the right, near the halfway line, holding the ball up, working it to Christian Eriksen, who turned and ran towards the Chelsea area. Chadli made his move, accelerating behind the visitors’ defence and swiftly picked out by Eriksen. As Thibaut Courtois advanced, Chadli calmly slipped the ball past him but it hit the far-post. Rose had anticipated some scraps, racing into the box, and sweeping the loose ball home left-footed as Cahill and Terry dived in despairingly: 2-1.

Spurs fans dared to dream on the cusp of half-time. Again Kane was involved, this time running into the area and clearly brought down by Cahill, who was totally spooked by the youngster. Kane and Chadli seemed to be debating who would take the penalty but Townsend had collected the ball. He placed it confidently on the spot, ran in and drilled it low past Courtois: 3-1.

Mourinho was down the tunnel, not waiting for half-time, already preparing his dressing-room response. Chelsea emerged from the tunnel early for the second half with a few rallying cries, and with Ramires replacing Oscar, but they were simply blown apart by another terrific Tottenham goal within seven minutes.

Again Kane’s movement flummoxed Chelsea. He drifted left again, accepting a pass from Chadli, and then going for goal. He rolled Matic and then calmly placed his right-footed shot between Terry’s legs and beyond Courtois: 4-1.

Amidst the sound of a crowing cockerel could be heard the statisticians flying through the record books, and confirming that this was the first time Chelsea had conceded four under Mourinho in the Premier League. There was also the sound of Chelsea working on a rescue plan on the hour. Federico Fazio was guilty of a lax challenge, allowing Hazard control of the ball and the little Belgian raced forward, exchanged passes with Fabregas, the king of the assists, and fired past Hugo Lloris: 4-2.

Lloris then saved from Cesar Azpilicueta before Chelsea’s nemesis deepened their misery. Kane shimmied in from the left, passed to Chadli who ran on and beat Courtois: 5-2. Kane smiled. Nabil Bentaleb was on the floor, punching the air. “We want six,’’ came that chant from the Spurs fans.

There was another goal, this time for Chelsea, with three minutes left. Hazard had refused to surrender, crossing from the right, Ivanovic getting a touch and Terry turning the ball in at the far-post for his third goal in four games: 5-3. But it was Kane’s night.

Kane was the last one off the pitch, lauded by the locals with national recognition surely beckoning in 2015. With Saido Berahino, Danny Ings and Patrick Bamford to call on, as well as Kane, Gareth Southgate has plenty of attacking talent for the European Under-21 Championships this summer but he deserves a senior call before then.


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Times:


Harry Kane’s superb double strike leaves Chelsea dazed and confused

Oliver Kay Chief Football Correspondent

Tottenham Hotspur 5 Chelsea 3


On a remarkable evening at White Hart Lane, Harry Kane inspired a truly memorable Tottenham Hotspur victory, leaving José Mourinho to wonder whether the madness of English football’s festive programme, for which he pined during his years away from Chelsea, might be better enjoyed from afar.

This was a careless, error-strewn performance from Chelsea, raising questions about their manager’s wisdom in selecting eight of his players in the starting line-up for all four Barclays Premier League matches in an 11-day period, but it took an astounding Tottenham performance to bring about the type of resoundingly anarchic scoreline that Mourinho once described as disgraceful.

There was no talk of disgraceful defending from Mourinho last night. He tried to switch the post-match debate to the referee, daring to suggest that Phil Dowd was “too slow to go with the ball”. There might well be occasions when the speed and intensity of Prem-ier League football looks too much for certain officials, but on this occasion the same could just as easily have been said of players such as Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry and Gary Cahill, three players who have excelled this season but looked as if a run-out against Kane and his team-mates was the last thing they needed on New Year’s Day.

If the riotous entertainment here and elsewhere yesterday was a taste of things to come, the second half of the Premier League campaign promises to be breathless, but this seemed extraordinary in more ways than one. It looked as if Tottenham, their squad rotated judiciously over the past week, had come upon Chelsea at a good time and were in the mood to inflict maximum punishment as they delivered by some distance their best performance of Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure — the best in well over a year.

In the press room beforehand, someone mentioned, after Manchester City’s 3-2 victory over Sunderland, that a 5-3 victory for Tottenham over Chelsea would leave the Premier League’s top two with identical records: won 14, drawn 14, lost two, scored 44, conceded 19. Ha bloody ha, went the reaction, but, to widespread disbelief, not least among the home fans, it happened. If the same situation were to arise after 38 games, there would have to be a play-off for the title — an incredibly far-fetched scenario, admittedly, but then again so was this.

Such an outcome looked even more implausible when Diego Costa scored Chelsea’s opening goal, but he, unlike the excellent Eden Hazard, was another who looked increasingly jaded yesterday as Didier Drogba and Loic Rémy remained on the bench. Chelsea’s main problems were in defence as Kane, Danny Rose and Andros Townsend, with a penalty, turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 half-time lead before the excellent Kane and Nacer Chadli added the fourth and fifth in a dizzying second period.

Tottenham started brightly enough, with Chadli testing Thibaut Courtois twice, but there was no hint of what was to follow. After the home team lost Ryan Mason to a hamstring injury, Chelsea scored the first goal of the evening, Costa diverting Oscar’s shot past Hugo Lloris from inside the six-yard box after a wonderful run from Hazard, whose shot had come back off a post. So far, so routine.

Even in that relatively comfortable first half-hour, though, Cahill and Terry looked distinctly uneasy against Kane, while Nabil Bentaleb was making a good impression in midfield. As reasonably as Tottenham were performing, though, the equaliser came as a bolt from the blue. Receiving a pass from Rose, Kane moved infield, holding off Oscar, and let fly from 25 yards with a shot that skidded past Courtois — another fine goal from a young centre forward who is improving by the week.

Chelsea were rocking, looking desperate to reach half-time without suffering any further damage.

To concede a second goal before the interval would have been bad enough, but they did far worse than that. The gap between and behind their central defenders was an open invitation to Christian Eriksen, who slipped a pass through for the lively Chadli.

The winger’s shot came back off a post and Rose was there, charging forward from left back, to score. Two minutes later, Cahill clattered Kane and Townsend made it 3-1 from the spot. Mourinho sent on Ramires in place of Oscar for the second half, but seven minutes after the restart Tottenham scored their fourth. Once more the defending looked lethargic, but there was something highly impressive about the way that Kane rolled away from Nemanja Matic and stroked a precise shot into the corner. White Hart Lane was jubilant and with good reason. It was the first time that Chelsea, under Mourinho, had conceded four goals in a Premier League match, but worse was to follow, even if Hazard reduced the arrears with an emphatic finish on the hour after an exchange of passes with Cesc Fàbregas. An excellent save by Lloris from César Azpilicueta maintained Tottenham’s 4-2 lead before Chadli gave them more breathing space, cutting inside and beating Courtois with a deflected shot.

On the touchline, Mourinho’s mood was darkening. Terry made it 5-3 from close range and Fàbregas hit a post from a tight angle in the final minutes, but no matter how hard they pushed in those closing stages, it seemed that tiredness — punished by merciless opponents — was at the heart of Chelsea’s issues.

The Christmas fixture list has been unkind to Chelsea, their four matches, three of them away from home, compressed into 11 days, but that, given the depth of his squad, only made Mourinho’s reliance on a core of eight players all the more perplexing.

There were worrying signs in the 1-1 draw away to Southampton on Sunday. Tired or not, though, it still takes something spectacular for Chelsea to yield five goals. What Kane and Tottenham did last night certainly matched that description.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): H Lloris — K Walker, F Fazio, J Vertonghen, D Rose (sub: B Davies, 75min) — R Mason (sub: M Dembélé, 13), N Bentaleb — A Townsend (sub: Paulinho, 65), C Eriksen, N Chadli — H Kane. Substitutes not used: M Vorm, V Chiriches, B Stambouli, R Soldado. Booked: Bentaleb, Kane, Paulinho.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): T Courtois — B Ivanovic, G Cahill, J Terry, C Azpilicueta — C Fàbregas, N Matic — Willian (sub: M Salah, 71), Oscar (sub: Ramires, 46), E Hazard — D Costa. Substitutes not used: P Cech, K Zouma, J O Mikel, D Drogba, L Rémy. Booked: Fàbregas.

Referee: P Dowd.