Tottenham 3-0

Independent:

Chelsea 3 Tottenham 0

Eden Hazard stars as Blues steamroller Spurs
 
Sam Wallace


The 25-year anniversary of Tottenham Hotspur’s last victory at Stamford Bridge will pass in February, a run that began as a historical oddity but has become entrenched in the last decade as one has turned into a modern European super-club and the other remained a plain old club.

The gulf will rarely have been better expressed than tonight when, in a four-minute first half burst that followed an excellent start to the game by Spurs, Eden Hazard and then Didier Drogba struck and the weight of history bore down on the away side. This was what genuine league title contenders do, and when the surge came from Chelsea there was nothing that Mauricio Pochettino’s team could do about it.

In their current form, it is not enough simply to be good if you hope to tame Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, you have to be outstanding. Spurs let the home side in for the first goal after 19 minutes – sloppy defending by Aaron Lennon down the right, and then calamitous goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris for the second – and the game was up. There were 22 minutes gone and Spurs were already coming to terms with the reality that they were not going to win at Stamford Bridge, again.

For the rest of the game, Spurs never so much resembled the proverbial younger brother locked in futile, determined pursuit of his older sibling – little legs propelling him on but the gap just getting wider and wider. The substitute Loic Remy displaced any doubt in Spurs’ minds that something could be salvaged from the tie with a third goal on 74 minutes which, in the course of scoring, he ruthlessly shrugged Jan Vertonghen to the floor.

There were some crumbs of comfort for Pochettino, not least the sheer bloody-mindedness of Harry Kane who refused to give up, watched from the stands by Roy Hodgson. Otherwise there were mismatches all over the pitch, especially at right-back where Vlad Chiriches was co-opted to play against Hazard and did his very best.

In Chelsea’s defence, there was little to be concerned about, a bright early start from Spurs aside, even when Gary Cahill had to go off at half-time - what looked like a precaution following a clash of heads with Vertonghen. Kurt Zouma replaced him and the door was once again locked tight, with Mourinho able to give Cesc Fabregas the last 15 minutes of the game off.

They did not even miss the suspended Diego Costa, who will be back for Saturday’s visit to Newcastle United. Not so Nemanja Matic whose booking for a foul on Kane means he will miss that game and there must also be a doubt over Cahill. Mourinho’s team lost at St James’ Park last season and he will not wish to cede any ground to Manchester City at the weekend.

For the first 19 minutes, it might well have been Spurs’ best start to an away game at Stamford Bridge in living memory, a well-coordinated, no-holds-barred full court press that had the league leaders rocked back on their heels. That they were two goals down within 22 minutes was an unfortunate detail that rather spoiled the big picture for Pochettino’s team.

 Tottenham struggled to muster an attacking threat  In those moments, Harry Kane, the hurricane, was a constant problem for Spurs defence, not least Cahill who he assiduously hassled and pressured on 11 minutes pinching the ball away from the defender and running on goal. His left foot shot missed the far post by inches, but was not quite as close as an earlier header that clipped Thibaut Courtois’ bar.

By then, Cahill had already been checked for concussion by the Chelsea medical staff and would later go off. Kane had drifted out left in the first four minutes and burst part Branislav Ivanovic in a way that no-one is usually permitted to do against arguably the best right-back in the Premier League. On that occasion Kane drew the foul and no one could deny Spurs were getting closer.

Not, unfortunately for Pochettino, close enough. On 19 minutes Spurs were treated to the kind of ruthlessness that better, more successful teams have in reserve for moments of high pressure. Ivanovic picked out Hazard on the left with a marvellous cross-field ball and the Belgian turned inside past Aaron Lennon to find Drogba in the area. Hazard took the return pass and beat Lloris at his near post.

 Hazard was a constant threat for Chelsea  In that split second, Spurs found themselves contemplating all sorts of questions. Why did Lennon not track Hazard’s run? Why did Lloris allow himself to be beaten at his near post? Where was Chiriches, ostensibly his team’s right-back? And then the more pressing concern, how had they allowed such a promising position to slip away?

It soon got worse three minutes later when Lloris’ woefully miscued clearance dropped straight to Hazard and from there the ball was moved quickly on to Oscar and to Drogba, whose run had caught the Spurs defence square. He beat Lloris for the second time in three minutes, his second league goal of his second spell at the club. What ruthlessness from the home team, and all around them in white shirts shoulders slumped and team-mates’ gazes were avoided.

The fight seeped out of Spurs somewhat in the second half and the replacement of Ryan Mason, one of the better performers, with the lesser-spotted Paulinho, did nothing to improve matters. They hardly made a chance of any note and then Remy struck on 73 minutes. On for Drogba he made light work of Vertonghen’s attempts to manoeuvre him off the ball from Cesar Azpilicueta and placed his shot beyond Lloris.

At the end of the game, there was an embrace for Kane from John Terry and what looked like a few words of encouragement from the older man. Spurs’ young Englishman was one of the few to leave west London with any credit from this performance.

The last time Spurs won at this stadium, in any competition, was 27 matches ago when it looked a very different place, in a very different era. The thought occurred that Chelsea may well have refurbished Stamford Bridge not once, but twice, by the time that their local rivals do it again. They looked miles away this time.


Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Drogba.

Subs: Zouma/Cahill ht, Remy/Drogba 66, Mikel/Fabregas 76

Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Chiriches, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Mason, Bentaleb; Lennon, Lamela, Eriksson; Kane.

Subs: Chadli/Lennon 58, Paulinho/Mason 58, Soldado/Lamela 74

Booked: Chelsea Matic Tottenham Chiriches

Referee: M Dean

Man of the match: Hazard

Rating: 6


=================


Guardian:

Chelsea’s Didier Drogba shows old ruthlessness to wound Tottenham

Chelsea 3 Spurs 0

Daniel Taylor at Stamford Bridge


The best way, perhaps, to put Tottenham Hotspur’s record at Chelsea into context is that the last time they won at Stamford Bridge was the same day President FW de Klerk announced Nelson Mandela was to be released from prison.

It is 24 years and 10 months since a side managed by Terry Venables came away with a 2-1 victory and their latest defeat was their 28th attempt to break that run.

Mauricio Pochettino is the 15th manager to give it a go and, once again, all Spurs were left with was the now-familiar sense of deja vu that engulfs this rivalry.

This one was classic Tottenham in many ways: starting encouragingly, threatening sporadically to create a story but then playing a considerable part in their own downfall and reminding us of the gulf that exists between a side with authentic title aspirations and one in a game of catch-up.

Chelsea did not play as exhilaratingly as the scoreline suggests but they were the more ruthless, efficient team by some considerable distance and there was an air of inevitability about this win as soon as Eden Hazard and Didier Drogba had scored within three minutes of one another midway through the first half.

Loïc Rémy, a second-half substitute, added a stylish third shortly after replacing Drogba and the Premier League leaders, maintaining their six-point advantage over Manchester City, have equalled their record of 23 successive matches unbeaten, set previously in 2007 and 2009.

Chelsea’s manager, José Mourinho, acclaimed Drogba, who is three months short of his 37th birthday, as “remarkable” and the only downside for Chelsea came in the form of the yellow card that means Nemanja Matic will be suspended from Saturday’s game at Newcastle.

Yet Chelsea, lest it be forgotten, were without Diego Costa, serving his own ban, for their latest victory which came with a haughty shrug from Mourinho.

“No problem,” he said. “Did you remember Diego Costa today? I didn’t. We give confidence to the other people. We don’t cry when somebody cannot play. Diego Costa is already rested and now Nemanja Matic will be rested. No problem.”

Tottenham had actually begun the game as though affronted by the statistics and, as Mourinho volunteered, they “were better than us in the first 20 minutes”. They passed the ball crisply and had a striker, in Harry Kane, who looked capable of troubling Chelsea’s back four.

Yet Spurs cannot expect to defend this generously and get away with it against the side at the top of the league.

Kane could not make the most of either of the two chances that fell for him inside the opening quarter of an hour and it was startling to see the way Spurs crumpled during that period when the game suddenly lurched away from them.

Drogba’s goal was a particularly traumatic one for Spurs to concede given that it came from nothing more elaborate than Hugo Lloris miscuing a routine kick, not even getting the ball to the midway point of his own half and leaving himself hopelessly exposed as Oscar and Hazard set up the man filling in for Costa.

Drogba might not be the player he once was but this was a gift and Lloris took a long time to shake his head clear. There were three other occasions in the first half when he shanked or misplaced clearances from his own penalty area.

Pochettino reflected afterwards about the moment early on when Kane sent a twisting header against the crossbar and, shortly afterwards, when the same player seized on a mistake by the Chelsea and England defender Gary Cahill, drove into the penalty area and flashed a shot across the goalmouth. “The first chance Chelsea created, they scored; the second, they scored again,” the Spurs manager said. “We need to be more clinical because that was the difference.”

What he did not dwell on was the level of self-inflicted damage.

Hazard’s speed and movement makes him a dangerously elusive player but there was nothing particularly original about the one-two with Drogba that created the opening goal.

The problem for Tottenham was that Aaron Lennon had let his man run off him. Vlad Chiriches was out of position and Hazard picked his spot to change the entire complexion of the night.

Cahill’s error might have had something to do with a clash of heads with the Tottenham centre-half Jan Vertonghen in the opening five minutes, leading to the Chelsea centre-half being replaced by Kurt Zouma at half-time.

Kane continued to toil away but there was also the clear sense that the home side were playing within themselves, content to protect their lead and operate from a position of strength.

It was risk-free football from Mourinho’s team in the second half, with Matic and Cesc Fàbregas rarely straying too far forwards until Rémy’s goal settled any lingering nerves, when he ran on to César Azpilicueta’s pass and got the better of Vertonghen inside the penalty area.

Willian was available to his right but Rémy expertly guided the ball past Lloris and the Chelsea machine rolled on.



==================


Telegraph:


Chelsea 3 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Eden Hazard, Didier Drogba and Loic Remy extend jinx

By  Henry Winter, Football Correspondent, at Stamford Bridge


There is an increasing case for this being the most stylish, watchable Chelsea side since the dashing days of Arjen Robben and Damien Duff a decade ago. To think that Chelsea have been criticised in more recent times for occasionally parking the bus; now they are celebrated for resembling a steamroller with the handbrake off.

Jose Mourinho’s hard-working, smooth-moving side effortlessly equalled the club record of 23 games unbeaten with this routine dispatching of Tottenham Hotspur. To think that it was scarcely eight months ago that the Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, was bemoaning that Mourinho had “parked two buses” at Anfield. The next time Chelsea see a parked bus could be when it is ready for boarding for a victory parade.

Of course, Chelsea can defend in numbers, are brilliantly organised at resisting opponents but they counter-attack fluidly and venomously. They can also build in more measured fashion, passing their way upfield. They can fly down the flanks or weave through the middle. Their repertoire of guiding the ball towards an opponents’ net is a rich one.

Chelsea are only six points clear of a Manchester City side building up steam, and they know plenty of challenges lie ahead before the Premier League trophy returns to the Bridge, but they are rightly favourites. They are a team of few flaws. Mourinho addressed the main concerns in the summer, installing ingenuity in the centre with Cesc Fabregas and sorting the attacking issues by signing Diego Costa and Loic Remy and re-signing Didier Drogba.

Eden Hazard began the scoring before there was a reminder of Chelsea’s attacking strength in depth. With Costa suspended, Drogba started and scored.

With Drogba tiring, Remy came on and scored. This was Chelsea’s seventh Premier League home fixture of the season, and the seventh they have won. They are now unbeaten in 28 games at home to Spurs, who last prevailed here when Sinead O’Connor was at No 1 with Nothing Compares 2 U back in February 1990 and when Gary Lineker was in the box not on it.

For those who like their numbers, the match stats presented a slightly misted-up window on the game. Spurs enjoyed 61 per cent possession and forced six corners to Chelsea’s solitary sortie to the corner-flag. Spurs also managed 10 attempts at goal but only two on target, the first from Harry Kane, the only visitor who enhanced his reputation, and the second being in the final minute from Nacer Chadli. Chelsea’s sharper cutting edge was reflected in eight of their 12 attempts being on target. The only negative was a fifth booking of the season for Nemanja Matic, who is now suspended for the trip to Newcastle United on Saturday.

It had actually started promisingly for Spurs in their latest vainful attempt to find joy at the Bridge. For 19 minutes, Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason looked secure in midfield, and Erik Lamela was showing for the ball through the middle. For 19 minutes, Spurs were good, swift and mobile, counter-attacking dangerously.

For 19 minutes, the debate was subdued over whether Mauricio Pochettino was right to omit Roberto Soldado following his goalscoring shift against Everton. The temptation must surely be to mould a partnership between Soldado and Kane.

Kane’s importance was confirmed by Pochettino keeping him in the starting line-up, despite his draining efforts against Everton, clocking up a remarkable 13km, only 3km less than the distance between White Hart Lane and the Bridge as the cockerel flies. As the visiting fans chanted “Harry Kane is one of our own,” the man himself beat Gary Cahill to head onto the bar. The tide began turning inexorably blue after 19 minutes as Chelsea scored two goals in three minutes, reminding the visitors of history’s painful resonance.

Hazard had already given notice of his threat, running at and past Vlad Chiriches, not the most convincing of right-backs. Chelsea’s No 10, one of the players of the season, took off again, this time eluding Aaron Lennon, who responded too tamely. Hazard carried on down the inside-right channel, using Drogba for a wall-pass. The ball returned instantly and Hazard wasted little time in hammering his shot past Hugo Lloris for his seventh goal of the season.

The Frenchman then endured a rare aberration, gifting the ball straight to Hazard. Seeing Spurs’ defence in disarray, the Belgian immediately swept the ball towards Oscar, who placed the perfect pass for Drogba to ignore Jan Vertonghen and drill the ball past Lloris.

So clinical, so ruthless. Chelsea took their chances in the first half. Spurs didn’t. Yet there was so much more to admire in the performance of Chelsea. Thibaut Courtois exuded command in goal. Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic excelled defensively when required and always looked to provide width.

Drogba was Drogba, muscling markers out of the way for 66 minutes, proving an admirable understudy for Costa. Deputy Drog indeed. The work rate of Chelsea’s most creative players — Willian, Hazard and Oscar — was immense.

Maybe Willian was additionally motivated by the boos of the Spurs supporters, having briefly toyed with joining the club before going to Chelsea. More likely it was simply another reminder of how Mourinho makes good players better, makes them understand that talent is nothing without endless application.

The Brazilian finished the half as if on a mission either to score or create the third. He had a shot saved, sprinted back to hound Vertonghen into surrendering possession and then had another shot stopped.

Chelsea continued to remain untroubled. Fabregas was contributing defensively as well as going forward, tracking back to nick the ball off Kane. Drogba’s departure did not lessen Chelsea’s momentum.

With 17 minutes remaining, Remy turned Vertonghen far too easily and placed his shot from left to right past Lloris. Spurs’ defending was too shoddy last night.

Trailing 3-0, Pochettino finally sent on Soldado, taking off Lamela and withdrawing Kane into the hole. But Chelsea remained too streetwise for the men from the Lane. Courtois plucked a Christian Eriksen cross out of the air as nonchalantly as if he were picking some low-hanging fruit.

Chelsea almost added a fourth but a low shot from the lively Willian was held by Lloris. Chadli tried to get a consolation but Courtois parried his shot. The final whistle almost sounded merciful for Spurs. Chelsea were simply too good.



=============


Times:

Chelsea 3 Tottenham Hotspur 0

Didier Drogba’s old spice keeps Chelsea on the scent of invincibility

Oliver Kay Chief Football Correspondent


If, as José Mourinho has suggested, Chelsea are disadvantaged in the Barclays Premier League title race by the number of derby matches they have to play, they have a funny way of showing it. This was their fourth victory in four matches against London rivals this season and, given Tottenham Hotspur’s wretched record at Stamford Bridge, any other outcome would have been a shock.

It is now almost a quarter of century since Tottenham won in this corner of west London, through a late goal from Gary Lineker, and it would not be pushing it to suggest that this has become one of Chelsea’s favourite fixtures. How, after all, could the league leaders claim to be troubled by the number of derby matches they play when they have developed such a stranglehold over Arsenal and Tottenham in particular?

For a quarter of an hour or so, Tottenham shrugged that longstanding inferiority complex aside, taking the game to the opposition with a boldness that delighted Mauricio Pochettino, their head coach. Had the increasingly impressive Harry Kane taken either of the two chances that came his way early on, it might — might — have a been different outcome, but Eden Hazard’s 19th-minute goal was followed within three minutes by a second from Didier Drogba and that was pretty much game over.

No team in English football are anything like so proficient at sucking the life and intensity out of a game as Mourinho’s Chelsea. They have now gone 21 matches unbeaten in all competitions this season — 23, equalling a club record, if you go back to last April — and, while there have been occasions this term when their football has illuminated Stamford Bridge, this, it seemed, was simply a question of getting the job done in a way that caused Tottenham to lose hope very quickly.

Chelsea’s wider aim, of course, is to suck the life out of the Premier League title race. Manchester City will still have plenty to say about that, but this was an evening when Chelsea’s challenge was underlined.

They lost Gary Cahill to injury at half-time — a precautionary measure after a blow to the head — and will be without the excellent Nemanja Matic through suspension when they visit Newcastle United on Saturday, but the assured contributions of some of the stand-ins, from Drogba and Loïc Rémy to Kurt Zouma, the young defender, spoke of a collective certainty in their play.

It all started so promisingly for Tottenham. “They do not intimidate me,” Pochettino had said beforehand — and when you have taken an Espanyol team to the Nou Camp to beat a Pep Guardiola-era Barcelona, their first such victory in 27 years, as he did five years ago, such an outlook is understandable.

At least until Hazard put Chelsea ahead, Tottenham channelled their head coach’s optimism. Once again, their hopes were carried by Kane, who justified his retention in the starting line-up even as Roberto Soldado, a goalscorer at last against Everton on Sunday, dropped to the bench.

Jan Vertonghen went close with a looping header from Vladimir Chiriches’s cross, but all of Tottenham’s best work involved Kane. In the eighth minute, after Ryan Mason released Aaron Lennon down the right, the England Under-21 forward headed against the crossbar. Three minutes later he disposed a dawdling Cahill, streaked down the left-hand side and shot wide of the far post as Chelsea’s defenders closed in. On top of that, Kane caught the eye with his workrate, bringing an intensity that Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor lack.

Nabil Bentaleb and Mason were holding their own in midfield at that stage, but the complexion of the game soon changed as Chelsea, almost without warning, took the lead.

Branislav Ivanovic played a crossfield pass towards Hazard, who turned away from Lennon near the edge of the Tottenham penalty area. Hazard played the ball to Drogba, went for the Ivorian’s well-timed return pass and beat Hugo Lloris at his near post.

If that goal was frustrating from Pochettino’s viewpoint, the second was positively infuriating. Lloris has long been a straight man behind the stooges of the Tottenham defence, but a misplaced clearance, straight to Hazard’s feet, put his team were under intolerable pressure. The ball was transferred swiftly from Hazard to Oscar to Drogba, who ensured that the goalkeeper’s mistake was severely punished.

It was the type of quick burst that Mourinho looks for, striking while the iron is hot. Two goals up, Chelsea exerted a familiar degree of control, with Matic beginning to run midfield. Tottenham enjoyed plenty of possession thereafter — 61 per cent of it, the post-match statistics said — but long before the end of the first half, they seemed to be playing entirely on Chelsea’s terms in a game that was going nowhere.

Drogba begun to labour in the second half, the 36-year-old understandably lacking the zest to capitalise on what little came his way after half-time, but Mourinho knew that there was still a weakness at the heart of the Tottenham defence, where Federico Fazio and Vertonghen make for an unconvincing partnership.

Rémy took just six minutes to get on the scoresheet. A clipped first-time pass from César Azpilicueta, by the left-hand touchline, sent Rémy towards the penalty area, competing with Vertonghen.

Rémy beat the Tottenham defender’s half-hearted challenge with ease before rolling the ball past a wrong-footed Lloris to make it 3-0.

That apart, the second half was almost a non-event. That is how Mourinho likes it when his team are cruising. It did not feel like a derby match at all. With Chelsea in this mood, it rarely will.


Chelsea (4-2-3-1): T Courtois — B Ivanovic, G Cahill (sub: K Zouma, 46min), J Terry, C Azpilicueta — C Fàbregas (sub: J O Mikel, 76), N Matic — Willian, Oscar, E Hazard — D Drogba (sub: L Rémy, 67). Substitutes not used: P Cech, F Luis, A Schürrle, M Salah. Booked: Matic.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): H Lloris — V Chiriches, F Fazio, J Vertonghen, B Davies — R Mason (sub: Paulinho, 58), N Bentaleb — A Lennon (sub: N Chadli, 58), E Lamela (sub: R Soldado, 73), C Eriksen — H Kane. Substitutes not used: M Vorm, K Naughton, Y Kaboul, E Dier, R Soldado. Booked: Chiriches.

Referee: M Dean.


=================


Mail:

Chelsea 3-0 Tottenham:

Eden Hazard, Didier Drogba and Loic Remy lead Blues cruise in front of fan Jeremy Clarkson (and his favourites didn't even have to go into top gear)


By Martin Samuel for the Daily Mail


And on it goes. The longest winless run in the history of the Premier League, 24 years straight and counting. Tottenham Hotspur haven’t taken three points from Stamford Bridge since Terry Venables was manager, Gary Lineker was the centre forward and the competition was known as Division One.

It was a different century, a different time, a different world back then. The idea that Chelsea would grow to be this superpower, the first London club to become champions of Europe, Double winners, back-to-back title holders, would have seemed fanciful. On Wednesday night, it must have appeared all too real. When will Tottenham break this hoodoo? When they have a team as perfectly assembled as Chelsea, perhaps.

It was not that Tottenham were lousy. Chelsea were simply too good. They won the game in the space of three first-half minutes with two goals, and never looked back. It was like watching a great boxer punish a hopeful challenger. A few rounds of sparring, soaking up the odd flurry of blows and then, a smartly executed combination and it was all over. Tottenham didn’t quite know what had hit them. It was going along so well and then, bang bang, lights out.

With Manchester City winning at Sunderland, where Chelsea dropped points on Saturday, this was a big win. The chasing pack, such as it is, have been waiting for Chelsea to be without Diego Costa, but his suspension here made little difference.

Both cover strikers – Loic Remy and the mighty Didier Drogba – scored, plus Chelsea’s most prolific midfield presence, Eden Hazard. This is an exceptionally balanced team, strong through its core, capable of impressively resilient and classy substitutions and replacements. Gary Cahill went off injured at half-time and Chelsea barely skipped a beat with young Kurt Zouma superbly marshalled by John Terry.

The game won, Mikel allowed Cesc Fabregas to take a rest. Unless Chelsea decide to do something daft in the summer – like allowing Terry to leave, as they did the timeless Frank Lampard – who knows how long Tottenham’s misfortune in west London might continue?

Tottenham started brightly, but the first warning that Chelsea had been stirred by this came after 13 minutes, when goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was forced to make a stop at the feet of Oscar, after hesitancy in the defensive ranks. Soon after, good build-up play was topped off by a curling shot from Fabregas that Lloris dealt with comfortably.

And then the roof fell in. Between minutes 19 and 22, Chelsea went from toe-to-toe scrapping to two goals clear and coasting. Good teams do that. It wasn’t luck – it wasn’t even particularly poor play by Tottenham, although Lloris’s mis-kick was the catalyst for the second.

Chelsea simply upped the ante and swept their opponents away. It was clinical in the finish, smooth and flowing in the creation. It was the work of a team at the top of its game, and on top of the league.

The opener was exquisite in its precision, a lovely one-two played by Hazard into Drogba and then back again. The Belgian finished powerfully at the near post and while some felt Lloris should not have been beaten there, the power of the shot would have taken much stopping.

For the second goal, Lloris was culpable. His kicking is his one real weakness but even by his standards this was a desperately poor effort. He planted the ball straight to the feet of Hazard, who fed Oscar, who in turn found Drogba. The great warrior came under pressure and Lloris advanced swiftly, but it was too late. The ball was in the net and all Tottenham’s early promise had gone to waste.

As combative as Mauricio Pochettino’s men had been in that early spell, so Chelsea bossed the last 30 minutes of the first-half. It did not produce more goals but it made it devilishly hard for the visitors to regain their composure.

They were too busy putting out midfield fires to make much impression on the game. It was four here between these teams last season, and it could have been three before half-time here. In the 29th minute, beautiful work from Oscar in a wide position picked out Willian in the middle but he fired straight at Lloris.

The second half wasn’t vastly different. Tottenham were spirited if not greatly threatening, but they had not conceded further with close to 20 minutes remaining, including injury time, and Pochettino was preparing to bring on a second striker, Roberto Soldado. At which point, Cesar Azpilicueta played a cross from the left, substitute Remy outmuscled Jan Vertonghen, struck the ball past a stranded Lloris and Chelsea called it a night.

Soldado came on anyway, but was now chasing three goals in 17 minutes to get a point. As he had recently celebrated his first goal in roughly 600 minutes, it seemed a long shot.

If Harry Kane, Tottenham’s rising star, takes anything from this game, however, it should be pride at the way he got the best central defender in English football to adapt his game to deal with his challenge. Terry sensed very early on that Kane was Tottenham’s main man and got tighter, following him into the deep areas, and affording him the attention typically reserved for the Premier League’s most prolific and experienced. Unfortunately, having Terry all over him like a rash snuffed Kane out – but briefly, he had looked very much a candidate this season’s Young Player of the Year.

In the seventh minute, he hit the bar with an impressively powerful header from a cross by Aaron Lennon, while five minutes later he held off Cahill to strike a low shot across the face of goal. Add these chances to events in the fifth minute when a cross from Vlad Chiriches was headed narrowly wide by Vertonghen, and it amounted to a fine start from Tottenham – so no wonder what happened after left them feeling shell-shocked.

Considering Manchester City’s result on Wearside, the only question remaining is how Chelsea contrived to draw a blank at Sunderland on Saturday. In this nick, there really is no-one to touch them.

And a sobering thought for Tottenham: Kane wasn’t even born when his club last won here. He has around 15 years to change that narrative. Short-term, though, it doesn’t look hopeful.


=============


Mirror:


Chelsea 3-0 Tottenham:

Blues maintain unbeaten start with commanding victory at Stamford Bridge
 
By Dave Kidd

Eden Hazard, Didier Drogba and Loic Remy found the net as Jose Mourinho's side extended Spurs' woeful record at the Bridge
 
There was something sadistic in the way Chelsea gave Tottenham hope at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

After two dozen years without a League win here, Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs were allowed to strut their stuff, carve out chances and fantasize about a famous victory. For all of 19 minutes.

Yet it ended up like the Indiana Jones scene in which the Arab swordsman gives his scimitar a lengthy, dazzling twirl only for Harrison Ford to shoot him dead with a revolver.

Except Chelsea used their rapier, Eden Hazard, and their bludgeon, Didier Drogba, to destroy Spurs with two goals in as many minutes.

It was a personal catastrophe for Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris, beaten at his near post for the first and then guilty of a faulty clearance to gift the second.

But it was quite brutal from the Blues, who maintained their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a seventh straight home victory.

Even without Diego Costa. Mourinho insisted he didn’t even have to think of his suspended top scorer, such was the influence of the 36-year-old Drogba.

Nemanja Matic is banned for Saturday’s game at Newcastle on Saturday. Mourinho says he is not bothered about that either. You’d almost call him arrogant if you didn’t know him so well.

The sepia-tinted photos of Gary Lineker scoring Tottenham’s last winner here in 1990 will have to be dug out of the archives again next season.

To think that Chelsea had been facing the rare challenge of having to recover from a poor result – their first in the League this season – in Saturday’s goalless draw at Sunderland.

When Spurs began at such a rattling tempo, it was almost as if the unthinkable were happening and that Chelsea were experiencing an actual dip in form.

Yet normal service was swiftly and emphatically resumed, with Loic Remy adding a third goal for good measure.

However rich and powerful their club becomes and however long Spurs are mired in mediocrity, every old-school Chelsea supporter wants to win this one, more than any other.

Mourinho, the old tease, might even have enjoyed the way Tottenham were allowed to dream in the opening stages only to be flattened, seemingly at Chelsea’s will.

Pochettino had dropped Roberto Soldado despite Sunday’s goal against Everton to leave Harry Kane alone up front.

But Spurs had no thoughts of bus-parking and began at breakneck speed, rattling the leaders. First Jan Vertonghen nodded over from a Vlad Chiriches cross, the Belgian clashing heads with Gary Cahill, leaving the Chelsea defender swivel-eyed but deemed able to continue.

Ryan Mason, scrapping like a street urchin, won possession and fed Aaron Lennon who centred for Kane to crash a header off the bar.

Even that didn’t rouse Chelsea, Cahill was de-bagged by Kane as he attempted a step-over close to his own penalty area and the Spurs striker held off the England defender only to drive low across the face of goal.

For 19 minutes, it had been truly impressive stuff from Spurs, yet they were about to be dealt a devastating lesson in ruthlessness.

Branislav Ivanovic swept a crossfield ball to Hazard, who treated Lennon like a training-ground cone, performed a one-two with Hazard and beat Lloris at his near post.

If that was bad for the French keeper, worse was to come just two minutes later when, as if he hadn’t learnt, he botched a clearance straight to Hazard. The Belgian fed Oscar, who sent Drogba thundering through on goal, with only one outcome.

Erik Lamela was attempting a different party trick each time he received the ball – sometimes David Copperfield, more often Tommy Cooper. Mourinho would throttle the £30million Argetinian. Or else he would give him the same sense of purpose he has instilled in Hazard. How Hazard has blossomed under the Portuguese. His undoubted natural talents now given such direction and purpose.

Drogba tripped over his own feet when presented with one decent chance. But then Cesar Azpilicueta conjured a lovely pass and Remy filleted Vertonghen and thumped home, with virtually his first touch since replacing Drogba.

Even Drogba was a nipper when Spurs last won here. And for as long as Mourinho remains, you cannot see that record changing any time soon.

•Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Drogba
•Subs: Cech, Zouma, Filipe Luis, Mikel, Schurrle, Salah, Remy

•Tottenham: Lloris; Chiriches, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Bentaleb, Mason; Lennon, Eriksen, Lamela; Kane
•Subs: Vorm, Dier, Kaboul, Naughton, Chadli, Paulinho, Soldado


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Express:


Chelsea 3 - Tottenham 0: Jose Mourinho's Blues are cutting to the chase

INCREASINGLY now, this Chelsea team have the look of a side with the Premier League title in their sights and who know they have the capability to achieve that aim.

By Tony Banks


The Blues have not played well every week, have occasionally stalled, looked tired, sometimes uninspired.

But they have not lost.

And always, in the next match, they have come back more ominously powerful. Tottenham arrived at Stamford Bridge having won six of their past seven matches and looking like they, at last, were beginning to understand what new coach Mauricio Pochettino is asking of them.

So, full of confidence they came – and they were utterly ruthlessly, efficiently taken apart. It was a win of almost clinical, surgical precision. Allow your opposition to have the ball for 20 minutes or so, and then pick them off.

It is something that the 2014 version of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea are very good at.

And that will send shudders down the spines of their rivals, even though Manchester City, their closest rivals, won again last night to keep the gap to six points.

This was 21 games unbeaten for Mourinho’s team and they did it without top scorer Diego Costa. In came Didier Drogba who, at the age of 36, produced a performance of stunning energy and strength, coupled with dominating skill and know-how.

He set up Eden Hazard’s first goal, scored the second for his fifth of the season and departed, exhausted after 67 minutes to a standing ovation. Spurs started the evening in ninth place in the league, 13 points behind their rivals – but those details matter little in battles between these clubs.

Pochettino’s side started much the sharper, showing their new-found potency as Jan Vertonghen put a header just over and Harry Kane smacked the bar with an effort from Aaron Lennon’s cross.

Kane pounced on Gary Cahill’s error and raced away but shot across the face of goal when he should have scored. Spurs were definitely quicker to the ball.

Then Chelsea woke up. The signal came from skipper John Terry as he charged forward – and the next two minutes seemed to sum up Tottenham’s recent history.

First Branislav Ivanovic found Hazard, who shrugged off Aaron Lennon’s challenge, picked up Drogba’s return pass, and fired his shot home off Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.

Barely two minutes later, Lloris mis-kicked his clearance horribly straight to Hazard, of all people, out on the right. The Belgian fed Oscar, who played in Drogba and the veteran slammed the ball in.

Pochettino could only look on bemused. Spurs tried to steady themselves after that seismic shock to the system, and Christian Eriksen ended a neat move with a high shot.

They applied plenty of pressure but there was always the danger of that Chelsea breakaway. Too often Tottenham’s final ball was not accurate enough, not perceptive enough.

Chelsea’s pressure on the ball, something Pochettino preaches in his all teams, was unrelenting and determined. Too often Spurs simply had nowhere to go with the ball, for all Kane’s non-stop efforts.

Lurking behind them always was Drogba, still the domineering, worrying figure he always has been. Not as quick, obviously, these days but that presence is invaluable to this Chelsea team.

Spurs pushed on but, of course, that lethal breakout happened again.

A lightning pass from Cesar Azpilicueta found Drogba’s replacement Loic Remy galloping away from Vertonghen. The Frenchman then embarrassingly rounded the Belgian defender again, and stroked his shot home past a helpless Lloris.

That Spurs defence had cracked once again. It was, from Chelsea’s point of view, rather like shooting fish in a barrel. They will go to Newcastle on Saturday without the formidable Nemanja Matic, who will be suspended, but this squad has strength in depth in so many positions.

As for Tottenham, the gap between where they are and where their rivals are must look awfully large right now.

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill (Zouma 46), Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas (Mikel 76); Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Drogba (Remy 67). Booked: Matic. Goals: Hazard 19, Drogba 22, Remy 73. NEXT UP: Newcastle (a), Saturday PL.

Tottenham (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Chiriches, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Mason (Paulinho 58), Bentaleb; Lennon (Chadli 58), Eriksen, Lamela (Soldado 74); Kane. Booked: Chiriches. NEXT UP: Crystal Palace (h), Saturday PL.

Referee: M Dean (Wirral).


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Star:

Chelsea 3 - Tottenham 0: Drogba leads Blues to easy victory over hapless Spurs

AH WELL. It was fun while it lasted.

By Adrian Kajumba

For five days the chasing pack behind Chelsea had a glimmer of hope, the Blues looked human and it seemed we might have a title race after all.

And for about 15 minutes Tottenham looked genuinely capable of finally ending their Stamford Bridge hoodoo.

Then the real Chelsea showed up to remind their rivals what they are really up against and send Tottenham home with their tails between their legs once again.

And just to emphasise how tough they will be to catch, the Blues swatted Spurs aside in a one-sided clash without their suspended star striker Diego Costa.

Eden Hazard, Didier Drogba and Loic Remy struck to ensure normal service resumed at Stamford Bridge.

The impressive Blues got back to winning ways after their stumble in Saturday’s goalless stalemate at the Stadium of Light by and extended their unbeaten run to 21 games.

It was the same old story for Tottenham too, who collapsed once again as their dreadful run at Stamford Bridge continued.

Their last win at their London rivals came back in Feburary 1990 – 24 years and now 28 games ago.

Once Hazard and Drogba put the Blues in control with a first-half double Mauricio Pochettino’s men never looked like ending it last night.

Chelsea home wins over Spurs are so common these days it might explain why the Blues felt they needed to switch off the lights just before kick-off in a bizarre attempt to whip up the punters expecting another three points and add to the atmosphere.

Tottenham were the much brighter side once the lights were switched back on and the first whistle went.

Buoyed by their best win of the season over Everton on Sunday Spurs were on top early on and seemed like they could spring a surprise.

Jan Vertonghen headed over and Harry Kane nodded against the bar before the in-form striker fired wide after robbing Gary Cahill and racing clear.

Then Chelsea burst into life and it was game over.

Hazard smashed the Blues ahead in the 19th minute after he and Drogba sliced through Spurs with a brilliant one-two.

Hugo Lloris should have done better than allow Hazard’s shot to squirm underneath him.

It was the same story three minutes later. Lloris’s poor clearance found its way to Drogba, via Hazard and Oscar, leaving him clear to fire Chelsea’s second past the Spurs stopper.

At this stage avoiding a repeat of last season’s 4-0 capitulation was the bigger concern for Spurs rather than ending their Stamford Bridge hoodoo.

And after Willian and Drogba twice missed chances to pile on the misery Spurs were lucky to have shipped only three by full-time.

Sub Loic Remy sealed the Blues’ cruise in the 73rd minute when he cut inside Vertonghen, then outmuscled the big defender before casually rolling a solo third past Lloris.



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