Chelsea 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur: 5 Talking Points
Trailing Tottenham Hotspur by 5 points in the race for a top-4 finish, Chelsea hosted the Lilywhites for their Matchday 31 tie in the Premier League, in what promised to be a mouth-watering fixture, largely due to the sheer significance the result would go on to have.
While Chelsea were under pressure to win and reduce the deficit between themselves and their guests, Tottenham, on the other hand, were not just under similar pressure to win but were also burdened by the historical fact that they had never beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge since 1990 - a time before the Premier League era.
A win for Chelsea would've narrowed the gap to 2, but ultimately, Spurs' victory widened it to a seemingly unattainable 8-point gap.
Juxtaposed to how the game finally ended, it was Chelsea who drew first blood as Alvaro Morata stepped up to find the back of the net in the 30th minute of the game.
Unfortunately for Antonio Conte and his side, they did very little with that lead. Danish sensation Christian Eriksen soon pulled Spurs level on the stroke of half-time with an absolute long-rangblinder, to leave things the way they had started - precariously poised.
After facing an intense onslaught on social media for certain alleged diving incidents in recent times, Dele Alli decided to make the big game his own as he scored a crucial second-half brace to all but end Chelsea's hopes of a top-4 finish.
In all honesty, it was relatively challenging to pick and choose from the many discussion-worthy points, but here is a look at 5 key talking points from the game:
#5 Dele Alli could be peaking at the right time
After excelling last season and steeply boosting his stock, Dele Alli had seemingly vanished for a majority of the ongoing season. As compared to his league tally of 18 goals and 11 assists last season, the Englishman has had a rather modest season this time around, managing just 8 goals and 12 assists, with just 7 games left to be played
Simply put, he has been overshadowed by Son Heung-min on several occasions this season, and hasn't been as menacing as he'd like. However, the last stretch of the season remains to be played and this could, in fact, be the perfect time for Alli to hit his stride.
Last night's brace, coupled with his goal and assist in his last outing with Spurs - against Bournemouth - certainly suggest that the Englishman could well be building momentum towards elevating his game to another level.
Spurs may have been shown the door in the UEFA Champions League, but with a top-4 finish yet to be mathematically secured, and an all-important FA Cup semi-final coming up later this month against Manchester United, Alli's return to form will undoubtedly be a shot in the arm for Mauricio Pochettino's men.
Further, with the FIFA World Cup barely a couple of months away, in all honesty, now wouldn't be the worst time for the 21-year-old to find his groove.