da wazamba： Another Saturday of Premier League football is done and dusted and Chelsea have ended it where they started, on top of the table.
da brwin： After seeing both Manchester City and Liverpool win earlier in the day, the Blues knew they needed to end Spurs’ unbeaten run in the league with a victory of their own to go back to the division’s summit.
At first, it looked like Spurs were going to upset the odds and finally win at Stamford Bridge as they took the lead through Christian Eriksen and largely controlled the opening half.
They couldn’t get a crucial second goal, though, and paid the ultimate price as Pedro curled home just before half time.
That completely knocked Spurs of their stride and soon after half-time they were behind, as the ever-improving Victor Moses finished off good work from Diego Costa.
2-1 it would stay at the Bridge. Here are five cracking photos to help sum up the 2-1 affair between the London rivals.
Eriksen’s thunderbolt
Christian Erkisen has received a lot of criticism this season and most of it has been fair, but he reminded us all of what he can do when he gets the chance. The smallest bit of space allowed the Danish international to lash home from outside the box with Thibaut Courtois having absolutely no chance of saving it. The goal was largely what Spurs deserved, having made the far better start of the two sides at the Bridge.
Pedro’s reply
Anything Eriksen can do…
Pedro himself has received some criticism during his time at Chelsea with him taking time to settle at the club after arriving from Barcelona in summer 2015. He looks pretty happy at the moment, though, and his goal was exactly the kind of strike Blues fans would have expected to see more of by now following his successes at the Nou Camp. It was a great, swirling effort from outside of the box and got Chelsea back into the game.
Work to be done at half time
Up until that point, Chelsea had been largely the second best team on the pitch. Antonio Conte must have been thinking that his side were pretty lucky to go back into the dressing rooms at 1-1. It was a worrying performance in that first-half but the Italian had evidently given his team new instructions at half-time because they were a different team after the interval, with pushed up wing-backs making all the difference. Conte proved once again that he’s a superb tactician.
Moses delivers
The rise of Victor Moses continued as he got Chelsea in front shortly after half-time. The attacking player turned wing-back has been pretty good all season and his ability to time his runs into the box and support both ends of the team were evident throughout the game. He still had work to do with his finish after Diego Costa’s lay off but he duly dispatched the strike with the confidence of a man who is enjoying his football right now.
Chelsea see it out
Moses’ strike proved to be the winner as Spurs just ran out of ideas. After a first half of decent enough football from the visitors, they looked completely knackered by the final whistle. A combination of being knocked out of the Champions League and growing criticism from some quarters appeared to have taken it’s toll, as the Blues saw them off with little trouble and sealed their return to the top of the league.