Premier League 2018/19: 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to Chelsea
Tonight’s London derby at Stamford Bridge was a scrappy game in the end, but when the final whistle blew it was Chelsea who came out on top, defeating Tottenham 2-0 thanks to a goal midway through the second half from Pedro and a comical own goal late on from Kieran Trippier.
The result leaves Spurs way off the pace at the top – they’re now 8 points behind second-placed Manchester City – while Chelsea remain in 6th, but are now only 3 points from the coveted 4th place.
For Chelsea, the game represented an excellent win to bounce back from their controversial EFL Cup Final loss to Man City. Tottenham fans are probably more worried; bitter rivals Arsenal are now only 4 points behind them – and the North London derby between the two sides goes down on Saturday, making the stakes even higher now.
Here are 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to Chelsea.
#1 Individual errors cost Spurs dearly
Tonight’s game was largely scrappy from the off, and while both sides looked up for the fight, individual errors marred almost every stage of play for both sides. So it was only natural that the game was largely decided by a couple of those individual errors.
Pedro did excellently to find the space for his opening goal on 57 minutes, but realistically, he should never have been given the opportunity, as he managed to turn Toby Alderweireld – who was solid outside of that moment – far too easily. And his shot somehow went through Hugo Lloris’s legs, making it a double-whammy of errors for Spurs.
And of course, the less said about Kieran Trippier’s own goal, the better. Quite who was at fault is hard to tell; no Chelsea players were within 10 yards of the England full-back, but it looked like his gesticulating caused Lloris to dash out of his goal, and then completely miss the ball as it trickled into the net.
Chelsea’s players made plenty of errors too, but none as costly as those made by Tottenham, and that was where the game was decided, basically.