Chelsea built on their game plan from Sunday to defeat Tottenham 2-0, with some serious help from the always-banter north London side. Pedro and Mateo Kovacic stood out amidst strong performances across the pitch.
Maurizio Sarri extended his run of using Plan B, making us wonder if this might actually be a Phase II. He extended many of the tactical tweaks he made against Manchester City, helping Chelsea close up shop and protect some of their weak areas while capitalizing on a frequently sloppily Tottenham side. The extra dose of Spursiness capped off a strong night for the Blues, as hope creeps back into Stamford Bridge (and away from Wembley Hart Lane).
Willy Caballero, Goalkeeper: N/A
Maurizio Sarri took a high risk gamble and won. Had Chelsea lost, particularly if they had lost through the kind of manic mix-up that Willy Caballero is so prone to having, Sarri’s attempt to be Mr. Discipline instead of Coach Fun would have been among his last acts at Chelsea. Instead, Tottenham took only one shot on goal, and that was towards their own goal. Caballero did not have to make any saves, nor did he induce any heart attacks with his attempts to dribble, dodge or dig out of a David Luiz-sized hole in the defence.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Right back: 7.5
Azpilicueta, like most of Chelsea’s defenders, spent most of the game in a series of physical battles with Tottenham’s forwards and midfielders. Sarri’s move to tighten the defensive and midfield lines meant the Blues could tangle with the Spurs, and lose balls – of which there were many – tended to fall towards Chelsea players.
Azpilicueta even had a chance to show some his inanely maligned leadership, stepping in between Harry Kane and David Luiz in an equally inane dispute over putting the ball back in play after injury. Kane dropped either a forceful nod or the weakest attempt at a headbutt in Azpilicueta’s direction, in what go down as not even the 10th Spursiest moment of the night.
Antonio Rudiger, Centre back: 7
Rudiger did not do much to really catch the attention in this game, until you realized that neither did Harry Kane, and then you appreciate Rudiger that much more. One of the ways Mauricio Pochettino had his assignments wrong was tasking Kane and another midfielder (usually Erik Lamela) with marking Jorginho. This kept the Spurs forwards away from Chelsea’s back line. But when Kane did try to move forward, Rudiger muffled any threat.
David Luiz, Centre back: 7
Luiz involved himself in some of the shenanigans early on that, on another night, would lead him to a booking and a series of errors. But referee Andre Marriner smartly kept his whistle in his pocket, Chelsea locked in their organization and Tottenham did themselves no favours, allowing Luiz to clean up across the backline. He blocked two shots and finished the game with 10 defensive actions, second only to Jorginho.
Marcos Alonso, Centre back: 7.5
Perhaps Marcos Alonso just needed a rest or maybe he felt some extra motivation from watching Emerson’s performance against Manchester City, but this was much more the Alonso of his first two seasons. The defensive structure of the 4-5-1 helped Alonso as much as anyone by not leaving him exposed to Tottenham players running in behind and slowing down the play as it moved up Chelsea’s left side.
While so much criticism of Alonso revolves around his (deep breath) pace, Alonso made a great recovery run into the box to break up a Tottenham counter-attack. He also made numerous overlapping runs at full sprint when the ball came to Eden Hazard just inside Tottenham’s half. Many of those plays started with him – Alonso – deep in Chelsea’s zone, as Alonso was the outlet point for a lot of Chelsea’s play out from the back, an effect use of his passing ability as well as a way to minimize the effect of Tottenham double-marking Jorginho.