Tottenham 1-1

Independent;

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 1 match report: All square in love and war for old allies

Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas share the points if not a drink as substitute Juan Mata turns the game and Jan Vertonghen does his  bit in Fernando Torres’s red card

By STEVE TONGUE

The compelling, if low-scoring, start to the Premier league season continued with all the fun of the derby fair here yesterday. It left these old rivals still up among the early leaders and both managers just about satisfied, given the controversial climax to a rollocking game. Had the Portuguese pair felt like discussing it all over a bottle of red, there would have been much to talk about, but Andre Villas-Boas’s need to fly to Oporto provided him with a diplomatic way out, in every sense. He did suggest they had at least swapped phone numbers.
Before leaving, Villas-Boas admitted with justification that Chelsea were the better team in the second half, which was clear to everyone in a packed stadium.
Jose Mourinho insisted that Chelsea would have won had Fernando Torres not been wrongly sent off, although there were only nine minutes plus added time left when he was dismissed for receiving a second card encouraged by Jan Vertonghen’s play-acting.
Visiting supporters pleased enough with the point against a team they never used to lose to were left to debate whether their manager had proved himself a genius of man-management or a fallible judge in his handling of Torres and Juan Mata, the latter having been omitted once again before coming on at half-time to effect a transformation.
Both players had been regularly left out until the Capital One Cup tie at Swindon in midweek, then told to go and prove themselves in Wiltshire. They did so to good effect and therefore earned a start and a substitution respectively here, in contrast to the disappointing Kevin de Bruyne and Willian, the Brazilian reported yesterday to have actually signed a contract with Tottenham before being snatched away by Chelsea.
Torres looked so sharp that it was impossible to see how Mourinho could have favoured the out-of-touch and out-of-shape Samuel Eto’o previously.  Mata was brought on for Jon Obi Mikel and immediately trusted to play the role he craves in the centre of midfield, pushing the normal occupant Oscar out to the left. That gave Chelsea the attacking midfield three that had changed round the fixture last season, when their team came from 2-1 down to win 4-2. If the transformation was similar this time, the result remained frustratingly different.
Early on, Christian Eriksen, one of the three Tottenham summer signings to start the game, had looked capable of becoming the dominant figure. He had a key role as Tottenham took the lead in the 22nd minute by finding another new man, Roberto Soldado, whose equally deft ball offered Gylfi Sigurdsson a chance. The Icelander hurdled John Terry’s desperate challenge and flicked his shot wide of Petr Cech.
If Paulinho, effective when going forward from midfield, had beaten Branislav Ivanovic to Soldado’s low cross shortly afterwards or put his shot just before half-time inside a post instead of against it, Chelsea might have been left with too much to do.
Villas-Boas felt that second effort was “the [key] moment of the game”. Chelsea had already begun to exert some pressure at last and Terry’s strong header wide from a long cross by Ramires was a sign of what was to come.
From the start of the second half Torres made increasingly strong runs, often prompted by Mata. Just after the hour Vertonghen committed a blatant foul to stop Ramires bursting through and from Mata’s free-kick Terry, just onside, glanced in a smart header. It was only the second goal Spurs had conceded in all competitions this season.
They would finish with five yellow cards, but Chelsea’s proved more crucial. Torres picked up one for tripping Vertonghen as part of their ongoing feud, then pushed his hand down the Tottenham defender’s face but escaped with no punishment. That may have been in Vertonghen’s mind when the pair contested a long ball with nine minutes left and the Belgian stayed down longer after minimal contact. This time Torres was off.
From there a disgusted Chelsea settled for a draw that was the least they deserved, although it was almost denied them twice in the last few minutes. Michael Dawson set up Sigurdsson, who drove wide a ball that sat up nicely for him; Jermain Defoe, on for Soldado, had the sort of chance he often puts away but hit it straight at Cech.
A winning goal to the home side would have been unjust, however, for all the impressive briskness of their start in which Andros Townsend and Kyle Walker, both watched by the England manager Roy Hodgson, had combined especially well down the right flank.
“Chelsea had the upper hand on counter-attacks and deserved their equaliser,” Villas-Boas admitted.
His former friend said: “The second half was the best we’ve played – a very good spirit, tactically well. Mata showed this is the way players have to say: ‘I want to play’. He did that with the effort he made against Swindon and the way he changed the second half. Now we have played away to two title contenders, Manchester United and Tottenham and got two points. The start has been difficult but we won’t be like the last two seasons, 15 and 20 points behind.”

Line-ups:
Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton; Paulinho, Dembélé; Townsend (Chadli, 63), Eriksen (Holtby, 70), Sigurdsson; Soldado (Defoe, 77).

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, David Luiz, Terry, Cole; Mikel (Mata, HT), Lampard; Ramires, Oscar (Azpilicueta, 83), Hazard (Schürrle, 69); Torres.

Referee: Mike Dean.
Man of the match: Fernando Torres (Chelsea).
Match rating: 8/10

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/tottenham-1-chelsea-1-the-premier-league-match-in-pictures-8846127.html

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Observer:

Chelsea and John Terry draw at Tottenham Hotspur but Torres sees red
David Hytner at White Hart Lane

Where to start in this helter-skelter derby? Tottenham were impressive in the first half; they led deservedly and they might have been further in front at the interval. André Villas-Boas had suggested that this game could provide the barometer as to how his team would fare in this season's Premier League. It had looked ready to point to something encouraging. Playing like this, Tottenham had to be considered as title contenders.
But Chelsea roared back. Inspired by Fernando Torres, they drew level through the pantomime villain John Terry and they were set fair for victory. This team already has the mentality of champions and here was further evidence. There was drive, conviction and the sprinkling of magic, with José Mourinho particularly pleased with Juan Mata.
On as a half-time substitute, the midfielder, who has seemed to be out-of-favour, not only created the equaliser but gave his all for the team, initially from the left flank and, later, as the No10. Mourinho was so pleased that he said Mata would definitely start the important Champions League tie at Steaua Bucharest on Tuesday.
Torres, however, best summed up the topsy-turvy nature of the contest. He tangled repeatedly with Jan Vertonghen and, in the 51st minute, he put his hand to the Tottenham defender's face, drew his nails and scratched him.
This is what passes for tough-guy behaviour these days but it was spiteful and he was booked. Villas-Boas thought he might have been sent off.
Torres did depart prematurely but in contentious circumstances. He leapt into an aerial challenge with Vertonghen in the 81st minute, leading with his arm but making no contact with his opponent, who went down. Perhaps Torres's aggressive posture had influenced the referee, Mike Dean, or maybe karma was at work for the earlier scratch. Either way, Torres was stunned to receive the second yellow card. Eventually, he wandered off in a daze, unsure whether to laugh or cry. Mourinho fumed.
Tottenham finished on the front foot against the 10 men and they came close to nicking the victory, although that would have been extremely unfair on Chelsea and would most likely have plunged Mourinho into meltdown.
And for the final act of the on-field spectacle, before Mourinho made his bid for the headlines with a press conference that was pure theatre, we were treated to the sight of him and Villas-Boas apparently making their peace on the touchline. Briefly, there were respectful exchanges.
The showdown between the pair, between master and pupil, and two men whose friendship is very much in the past tense had been the principle sub-plot and their pre-match handshake – entirely perfunctory and lacking any positive feeling – appeared to frame the 90 minutes.
This was a derby in which the animosity bubbled, where the intensity was tangible and the margins were suffocatingly tight. Mourinho had set up with Ramires on the right flank to be compact, to stifle Tottenham, but Villas-Boas could punch the air when his team found the early breakthrough.
The creation was all about the balance of Christian Eriksen and the touch of Roberto Soldado. Eriksen was signed after Tottenham lost Willian to Chelsea and it felt ironic that, as the Dane probed, Willian was not even in the Chelsea squad. The Brazilian's start at Stamford Bridge has been inauspicious.
Eriksen slipped away from Frank Lampard and pinged the ball to Soldado, who laid off first-time for Gylfi Sigurdsson. Terry stretched to tackle but was too late and Sigurdsson wriggled away to squeeze a left-footed shot past the advancing Petr Cech.
It was a gripping game, heavy on technical quality and latent menace from the creative players. Tottenham had the first-half stars in Eriksen, Paulinho and Andros Townsend, even if the latter erred with a dive that earned him one of Tottenham's five yellow cards. Branislav Ivanovic denied Paulinho following Soldado's cross while on the stroke of half-time Paulinho clipped the outside of the near post after fine work from Kyle Walker and Townsend. Villas-Boas would lament that moment.
Chelsea were off-colour in the first half, even though Eden Hazard flickered, but they raised their levels. Torres crackled to life; at times, he was unplayable, showcasing his strength and explosive movement. His cross narrowly eluded Oscar while, after beating Michael Dawson, he was thwarted by Hugo Lloris.
The equaliser came when Terry muscled in to glance home Mata's free-kick – the captain gestured in his celebration at the Tottenham fans, who had baited him relentlessly – and Chelsea looked like the only team that would win. The substitute André Schürrle, released by Torres, was denied by the out-rushing Lloris.
Yet the pendulum swung upon Torres's dismissal and Tottenham nearly stole it through first Jermain Defoe, another substitute, who was released by the excellent Mousa Dembélé, and then Sigurdsson, whose fine volley from the edge of the area flew just wide.
Mourinho would have taken the point beforehand and he certainly would have done at half-time. By the end, he was not so sure.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2013/sep/28/premier-league-tottenham-chelsea-pictures

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Telegraph:

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 1
By Jason Burt

This was an encounter of the highest technical quality and an even higher tetchy quality. Scratch below the surface – as Fernando Torres attempted to by grabbing Jan Vertonghen’s face – of a hurly-burly London derby and here are two genuine Premier League contenders.
For Chelsea the second-half was their best 45 minutes of the season, which is ominous for the rest of the division, while for Spurs there is a growing belief that a top four finish is attainable and with it Champions League qualification. And maybe more.
It was the game of two halves, quite literally as the cliché goes. Spurs dominated the first, Chelsea claimed the second. The game-changer? Well it had to be – and it was – Juan Mata who came on at half-time and as he had done at White Hart Lane 12 months ago ran the show.
How galling that must have been for Andre Villas-Boas who brought the Spaniard to Chelsea and has then looked on perplexed as he has been deemed second-choice, at present, by Jose Mourinho who has publicly questioned his work rate.
But then, of course, Villas-Boas and Mourinho have their differences. As have been well chronicled. Sorcerer and apprentice; master and upstart and all eyes were on the pair prior to kick-off as they prowled by the side of the pitch appearing to be separated by an imaginary exclusion zone.
There was a handshake – lukewarm – and a brief exchange of words afterwards and the upshot of which was that Villas-Boas could not stop and chat as he had a plane to catch back to Porto for his, and Mourinho’s, former club’s anniversary celebrations.
He will have clinked glasses a little more heartily had Spurs held on for the win and though Mata’s introduction did make a significant difference, while Mourinho argued that Torres’s dismissal killed the momentum his team was gathering to win the game, there was another crucial moment.
It came just before half-time when Spurs midfielder Paulinho, who along with Christian Eriksen and Andros Townsend had been the dominant figure in the first period, broke through and struck an angled shot which clipped a post. Had he scored then it could have been game-over as Villas-Boas ruefully commented.
“That was the moment of the game,” he said. “That could have put us in a very, very good position and we deserved that for the first half we played. The second half was not well played by both teams but Chelsea looked very strong on the counter-attack and deserved the point.”
They did. Mourinho made his tactical alterations by moving Ramires into the centre for the static, ineffective John Obi Mikel – another big decision in an enthralling matchup.
For the way he has brought this Spurs team together with gifted players comfortable in possession Villas-Boas deserves huge credit. With his continuing ability to manage games then so does Mourinho who appeared uncomfortable as his team were swamped during that first period.
Spurs’ goal oozed quality as Eriksen’s sharp turn left Frank Lampard floundering before he clipped the ball into the feet of Roberto Soldado. His lay-off to Gylfi Sigurdsson was marginally short but he rode John Terry’s challenge to then poke the ball past the advancing Petr Cech.
Chelsea were carved open again – with Townsend finding Soldado and Paulinho running in the expectation to tap home only for Branislav Ivanovic to intervene. Mourinho appeared intent on encouraging his players to hit long balls over the top to try to use Torres’ pace and the striker grew in influence. It was possibly his best game for Chelsea even if he did not trouble Spurs’ goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
That switched with the Mata switch. Torres broke clear, running past Vertonghen but Oscar, on the stretch, could not connect properly with his sweeping cross and then there was another thrilling run by the Spaniard as he wove his way past Michael Dawson into the penalty area. Lloris smothered with a fine save but Torres was, clearly, up for it.
Perhaps his blood was up too much. A keen battle with Vertonghen was turning into something more spiteful and both players were guilty to varying degrees with pushes and shoves, trips and pokes and then that scratch. Just as that was in danger of becoming a distraction, Chelsea equalised. Of course the assist came from Mata.
Vertonghen scythed down Ramires – yet another yellow card – and Mata’s flighted ball was met by Terry, who had wasted an earlier header, but who was not tracked by Dawson and his faintest flick beat Lloris. Chelsea were, most certainly, in the ascendancy now with another fine save by Lloris, this time denying substitute Andre Schurrle after he was played in, again, by Torres. The French goalkeeper’s speed off his goal-line and anticipation ranks him among the very best.
Both managers rang through the changes but Torres’ dismissal stalled Chelsea. Suddenly Spurs sensed they could hit back and, twice, substitute Jermain Defoe went close – shooting weakly at Cech and then running across goal only for his driven effort to be deflected narrowly wide.
The tension grew and there was one last chance which fell to Sigurdsson who collected Dawson’s pass just outside the area, swivelled and shot. Cech was wrong-footed but the ball sailed, just, past his post.
“The attention should not be drawn to the managers but to the game and it was a difficult, hard battle between two teams who wanted to with this game,” Villas-Boas said. “It was a fair result.” But not one contested in the fairest of atmospheres.

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Mail:

Tottenham 1 Chelsea 1: Terry cancels out Sigurdsson opener before Torres sees red

By ROB DRAPER

In the end, honours were even, egos remained intact and reputations were salvaged - and that was just the managers.
Amid the sideshow, an excellent match broke out, with sub-plots aplenty. Tottenham looked to be establishing credentials as genuine title contenders before Chelsea produced their best football of this Jose Mourinho era and almost won the game.
David Luiz returned but it was the introduction of Juan Mata - finally - at half-time that coincided with a shift in the balance of power.
Fernando Torres was excellent - indeed, it was quite a day for the Mourinho outcasts - until he was sent off after 81 minutes. That decision seemed harsh but Torres was earlier spared when he appeared to scratch Jan Vertonghen’s face.
All that, and outbreaks of superb football from both sides.
From Spurs there was one such move on the stroke of half-time. Kyle Walker backheeled the ball to the excellent Andros Townsend, who dummied and found Paulinho, who in turn struck a post. It exemplified the strides Spurs have been making - glorious, sweeping football that would have graced the best teams.
It was also, for Andre Villas-Boas, a pivotal incident.
‘I think it was the moment of the game,’ he said. ‘Had that gone in it could have put us in a very good position and I think we deserved that for the first half we played.’
But then came Mata and an entirely different Chelsea emerged.
‘I think he changed the game,’ said Villas-Boas. ‘He probably had the impact Chelsea and Jose wanted.’
Indeed, Mata appears to have redeemed himself and he will soon be back as an automatic starter.
‘I think this is the way the players should say, “I want to play!”,’ said Mourinho. ‘Conversations with you [the Press] is not good; the agent saying “blah, blah, blah” is not good.
‘This is good: the effort he made against Swindon and the way he changed the team in the second half. Because of that I’m a very happy manager to say two days in advance he will play against Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League.’
It was not all Mata. Ramires switched into John Obi Mikel’s holding midfield role and suddenly there was zest, bite and invention in  Chelsea’s game. Torres was as much at the heart of the recovery as Mata, his running duel with Vertonghen a function of his appetite for victory.
Still, the Spaniard was fortunate not to receive a red card after a  confrontation in the 51st minute.
Torres tripped the Belgian and then appeared to scratch the player. But he received a yellow card only for the trip and the second caution seemed an honest attempt to head the ball that resulted in a coming together with the Belgian.
Both fell to the floor dramatically but Mourinho reserved his wrath for Vertonghen. Mourinho felt it cost his side a chance to win the game. ‘We were much, much better and they were in trouble,’ he said, not unreasonably. But he was honest about their first-half shortcomings.
‘We have to keep working,’ he said. ‘Some qualities of some players we cannot change. We have to try to hide our weak points and bring up the situations where we are good.’
For 45 minutes it looked as if a younger, more muscular and energetic prototype was demonstrating its superiority over a tired, jaded model. Villas-Boas was looking the innovator, the likely victor.
Fernando Torres earned plenty of sympathy after being sent off following a clash with Jan Vertonghen — but he could have been dismissed half an hour earlier.
A running battle between Torres and Vertonghen finally boiled over in the 50th minute, when the Chelsea striker tripped the Belgian. Vertonghen was furious, squared up to the Spaniard who then appeared to scratch the Spurs player. But Torres was only booked for the original trip.
Tottenham’s goal was symptomatic of all that was good in their play. Christian Eriksen, dominant before fading amid Chelsea’s renaissance, turned away from Frank Lampard to create space and play in Roberto Soldado, who held the ball up for Gylfi Sigurdsson. With John Terry stretching to intervene, Sigurdsson took a touch and smashed the ball home.
The equaliser, when it came, was initiated by Mata’s beautifully floated free-kick which was met with the most traditional of English thumping headers by Terry.
Hugo Lloris saved well from Andre Schurrle after 77 minutes and only when Torres left did Spurs recover. Sigurdsson fired over and, at the death, substitute Jermain Defoe had a chance to win it but saw his shot deflected wide.

Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Lloris 7; Walker 7, Dawson 6, Vertonghen 6, Naughton 7; Paulinho 6, Dembele 8; Townsend 7 (Chadli 62, 5), Eriksen 6 (Holtby 69, 5), Sigurdsson 6; Soldado 6 (Defoe 76, 6)
Subs not used: Friedel, Chirches, Lamela, Sandro

Booked: Townsend, Eriksen, Vertonghen, Dawson, Dembele
Goal: Sigurdsson 20.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 6; Ivanovic 6, Luiz 6, Terry 7, Cole 6; Mikel 5 (Mata 46, 7), Lampard 6; Ramires 8, Oscar 5 (Azpilicueta 82), Hazard 5 (Schurrle 69, 4); Torres 7

Subs not used: Schwarzer, Cahill, Essien, Eto'o.
Booked: Torres, Ivanovic
Sent off: Torres
Goal: Terry 65.
Ref: Mike Dean

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Mirror:

Tottenham 1-1 Chelsea: John Terry header secures a point for Blues as Torres sees red
By Matt Law

The Spaniard was given a second yellow for an innocuous challenge after Terry cancelled out Gylfi Sigurdsson's opener
The claws had been out all week between Andre Villas-Boas and Jose Mourinho.
The Portuguese men at war struck a temporary truce at White Hart Lane, but Chelsea striker ­Fernando Torres could not resist a swipe of his own.
Torres was fortunate to get away with scratching Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen.
But he was not so lucky in the final 10 minutes, when referee Mike Dean showed the Spaniard a second yellow card for an aerial clash with the Belgian.
Replays showed that Torres had not connected with an elbow, despite the fact that Vertonghen clutched his face in supposed agony.
Chelsea boss Mourinho said: “The player had his hands on his face pretending there had been a violent action.
“It was a situation where the player was not helping the referee.
“It was not a wrong ­decision because the referee trusted the player. The player looked like he needed to go to hospital with a broken bone, but you see the replays and there is nothing.”
The battle between Torres and Vertonghen was far more fierce than anything that went on between Villas-Boas and Mourinho.
The pair shook hands before kick-off and at the final whistle, and both men seemed satisfied with a point.
Mourinho can perhaps claim a small victory in the fact he changed the game with the introduction of Juan Mata, who inspired a second-half fightback from the Blues.
But it was Villas-Boas who had got his starting line-up spot on as Spurs dominated the first half and could have gone in a couple of goals ahead.
Gylfi Sigurdsson opened the scoring in the 19th minute, following good work from Christian Eriksen.
The Dane escaped Frank Lampard and played the ball into Roberto Soldado, who pushed it through for Sigurdsson.
He evaded an attempted challenge from John Terry and left Petr Cech with no chance.
Villas-Boas jumped from his seat in the dug-out and White Hart Lane erupted as Spurs sensed an opportunity to take advantage of ­Chelsea’s slow start.
Branislav Ivanovic came to Chelsea’s rescue four minutes later as he cut out a cross from Andros Townsend with Paulinho sliding in.
With England manager Roy Hodgson watching, Townsend produced a wonderful first-half performance that caused Ashley Cole plenty of problems.
It was Townsend who created the chance just before the break that Villas-Boas felt would have secured all three points for Spurs.
The winger freed Paulinho in the area, but, from a tight angle, the midfielder struck the outside of the post.
Mourinho needed to make a change and sent on Mata to replace John Obi Mikel at the start of the second half in a substitution that altered the course of the game.
But Torres could easily have left Chelsea with a mountain to climb just six minutes after the break when he first clashed with Vertonghen.
The Spanish international was booked for tripping the Spurs man and, as the pair squared up, Torres scratched Vertonghen’s face.
Referee Dean may not have seen the incident, which could yet lead to retrospective action from the FA – even though Torres was eventually given his marching orders.
While they still had 11 men, Chelsea bossed the second half and it was no surprise that Mata had a hand in the 65th-minute equaliser.
Following a foul from Vertonghen on Ramires, Mata drifted a free-kick into the box and Terry rose to head past Hugo Lloris.
The Spurs keeper then had to race from his line to make a great save from substitute Andre Schurrle after the German had been sent through by Torres.
Chelsea looked likely winners before Torres got his marching orders.
Vertonghen landed in a heap, clutching his face after challenging for a ball with Torres and Dean sent him off.
The decision gave Tottenham a second wind and Sigurdsson almost clinched all three points with a looping volley that dropped just wide.


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Express:

Tottenham 1 - Chelsea 1: John Terry gets Jose Mourinho off the hook

Jim Holden

THEY shook hands before the game. They shook hands afterwards. What mattered to the animated managers of Spurs and Chelsea was how their teams delivered a compelling match of style and skills, drama and controversy.
The first meeting of former close friends and now deadly rivals Andre Villas-Boas and Jose Mourinho was a showdown it was impossible to take your eyes off.
Spurs controlled the first half with a superior passing game and went ahead with a sublime goal from Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Chelsea, presumably fired up by an emotional Mourinho team talk, bossed the second period with a performance of formidable power, equalising through captain John Terry and then hanging on for a point when striker Fernando Torres was sent off late in the game.
Nobody disputed that the fierce draw was a fair result over 90 minutes.
Everybody could see the decision to show Torres a second yellow card for an innocuous aerial challenge was daft. That sent Mourinho into typical manic verbal overdrive, accusing Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen of over-reacting to the incident and playing an unfair part in the dismissal of Torres.
What the Chelsea manager failed to mention was that Torres had been hugely fortunate to escape a straight red card half an hour earlier when TV pictures showed he grabbed the face of Vertonghen in far from gentlemanly fashion.
It’s funny how managers only see the things they want to see. Of course, it suits Mourinho to turn football matches into a morality play, often with a conspiracy theory at its heart. He’s a master of that blatant art.
Yesterday, though, the abiding memory will be of Mourinho’s team finding the very best of themselves in the second half and giving the kind of display that potential champions require. He had brought on Juan Mata as a half-time substitute, and the talent of the impish Spaniard improved the side. But it was the sheer desire and determination of the entire Chelsea side that gave them such strong control.
In the first half Mourinho had looked troubled on the touchline. In the second half he was a manager in command, just like the good old days.
It felt like a serious turning point for Chelsea after their stuttering start to the season.
Villas-Boas admitted that Chelsea would be happier with the result, and he will have been concerned with how Spurs were so severely knocked out of their elegant stride.
For 45 minutes they had been in charge, with Christian Eriksen and Moussa Dembele pulling the strings in midfield and Andros Townsend impressing with darting runs on the right flank, although not with a dive that earned him a yellow card.
Their goal came in the 19th minute, engineered by a sharp turn, the sharp thinking, and an even sharper pass from Eriksen.
That was tapped off by Roberto Soldado to Sigurdsson, who smuggled the ball into the net for a wonderful strike. A few minutes later only a last-ditch clearance from Branislav Ivanovic prevented a second goal after a thrilling Spurs move.
On the stroke of half-time they slashed through the Chelsea defence again, but Paulinho’s shot hit the post.
This proved to be the turning point.
Chelsea started to play instead of wasting possession with hopeless long balls – and their dynamism overwhelmed Spurs for long periods.
Torres was in outstanding form, running hard at the Tottenham defenders and playing with a combination of intensity and incisiveness rarely witnessed in a blue shirt.
He beat the home defence all by himself with one surging run, and was only foiled by a fine save from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
His personal battle with Vertonghen was robust, and maybe Torres was a little too motivated for his own good.
Torres set up Mata for a ‘goal’ that was correctly disallowed for offside, and it was Mata’s delightful curling free-kick that Terry guided into the net with a glancing header for Chelsea’s equaliser.
The red card for Torres, whatever the overall rights and wrongs, gave momentum back to Spurs for the final few minutes and the home side almost snatched victory.
Sigurdsson sent a shot dipping just over the bar, while substitute Jermain Defoe had a goal-bound effort deflected just wide.
Honours even then – and there was honour between the managers too as they set aside the pre-match verbal ding-dong and shook hands after the final whistle and spoke together out of view of the cameras.
Each could take some comfort from a match that revealed both teams have the potential to be title challengers this season.
“We should focus on the players, not the managers,” said Villas-Boas afterwards. He is surely right.

Ref: M Dean
Att: 35,857

TOTTENHAM: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton; Paulinho, Dembele; Townsend (Chadli 62), Eriksen (Holtby 69), Sigrudsson; Soldado (Defoe 77).
CHELSEA: Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Lampard, Mikel (Mata 46); Ramires, Oscar (Azpilicueta 83), Hazard (Schurrle 69); Torres.

MAN of MATCH: Fernando Torres – the Chelsea striker produced his most dynamic display in a long time.

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Star:

Tottenham Hotspur 1 - Chelsea 1: Fernando Torres sees red in derby

SPANIARD Fernando Torres ­acted like a raging bull on the day peace broke out between the Portuguese Men at War.

By Tony Stenson

Well, kind of.
Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas shook hands with his compatriot Jose Mourinho before and after the game – but at times there seemed to be more warmth in an ice cube than between the pair.
Torres supplied the heat by getting ­under the skin of Tottenham’s defenders with niggling tactics – but he also caught the eye of ­referee Mike Dean.
After being booked for a run-in with Jan ­Vertonghen, he kept chipping away and was eventually sent-off in the 80th minute for ­jumping into the big defender.
There did not seem to be much contact but Dean saw intent in the forward’s movement and had got fed-up with the player for continually arguing.
Torres’ stupid antics took the gloss off Chelsea’s storming fightback and ­deflected some of the attention away from the returning Juan Mata.
Coming on as a ­substitute in the second half, Mata transformed the game and proved again to Mourinho that he is far too valuable to be ­sitting on the bench.
The Chelsea boss said: “Mata played the way I have wanted him to play. He was a real game-changer. Will he play in the Champions League on Tuesday? Wait and see. But after losing at home to Basel in our opening game, it is vital we do not lose in Bucharest.”
At times on the touchline yesterday it was like watching synchronised dancing as both managers prowled, twisted, ­whistled, shouted and waved imaginary yellow cards.
They were watching a typical derby. It was fast, feisty and ­action-packed with moments of wonderful skills – with most of them coming from Spurs new-boy Christian Eriksen.
Chelsea defended solidly but did not have the quality or power in ­midfield ­during the first half to stem a tide that ­regularly rolled their way.
Spurs were ­dominant and Mourinho was finally forced to bring Mata into his side at the expense of John Obi Mikel at half-time.
“At times on the touchline yesterday it was like watching synchronised dancing as both managers prowled, twisted, ­whistled, shouted and waved imaginary yellow cards”
The Spain ace started wide right with Ramires going into the middle to add a snap that had previously been missing.
Mata soon had the ball in the net but that effort was rightly ruled out for ­offside. It did ensure that Chelsea kept momentum though.
Dwelling on the ball was often met with a meaty tackle and both sides occasionally went for the long ball to try to bypass the midfield. The first chance of the day fell to Frank Lampard but he whacked a 12th-minute shot over after good work by Torres and Eden Hazard.
But once Spurs settled they crafted moves with quality and class, with ­Eriksen behind most.
The dainty Dane orchestrated the ­opening goal in the 19th minute.
He wormed his way into Chelsea’s ­defence, slipped the ball to Roberto ­Soldado who then laid it into the path of Gylfi Sigurdsson who battled through a number of tackles to score.
Kyle Walker and Andros Townsend combined well in the 44th minute to split the Chelsea defence open and put Paulinho through, whose effort hit the post.
Mata’s arrival on to the pitch gave ­Chelsea brightness and quality that had been missing and he signalled his arrival by floating over the perfect free-kick for skipper John Terry, putting in another solid performance, to rise highest to head home in the 65th minute.
Chelsea’s ten men held out after Torres’ departure as Spurs launched a ­ferocious late rally that could have paid off if they had kept their nerve rather than whacking efforts from all angles.