The two moments that caused Chelsea’s draw against Spurs

Chelsea had to significantly improve from their performance against Everton and they did. They more than did in fact. The Blues were superb in how they played against Spurs. They won the ball back in promising areas and caused Tottenham to make mistakes with how well they pressed. In fact, Chelsea’s second goal originated from them winning the ball back high up the pitch, and working the ball to Raheem Sterling, who assisted Reece James. Chelsea did not win the game though, with all the space they got and how much trouble they caused Spurs, they kept Spurs in the game. CFC fans were furious at full time – and understandably so – at referee Anthony Taylor (remember him?) for not stopping play in the 95th minute when video review showed Tottenham centerback Cristian Romero pull Marc Cucurella to the ground by his hair.

The result of this was that Taylor went ahead to continue with awarding the corner to Tottenham, who took the corner and scored through Harry Kane in the 96th minute. The Blues were done an injustice, no doubt, however these calls and non-calls are made against and in favor of every sports team ever created and have become part and parcel of the game, so while it was a major decision not given by Taylor, that was not what led to the goal that tied the game up. For Tottenham’s first equalizing goal, many fans also complained about a foul that wasn’t given for a tackle on Kai Havertz high up the pitch. This resulted in play continuing and Tottenham scoring some 40 seconds later. This left the Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel furious, even having some not so kind words for Tottenham’s manager Antonio Conte. The non-call on the Havertz tackle, was not what led to the first equalizer either. Here are the two moments that led to CFC not leaving Stamford Bridge with three points.

The two moments that caused Chelsea’s draw against Spurs

First of all, in the lead up to the goal making the scoreline 1-1, the referee did not stop the game for a foul on Havertz because – there was no foul on Havertz. The tackle was showed again and Rodrigo Bentancur got the ball. He played the ball slightly and made contact with the ball long before he made contact with Havertz’s foot – if he made contact with Havertz’s foot. Football happens in actions, so after play was allowed to continue, there was a number of things Chelsea needed to do to retain their lead.

For one, the Blues did win the ball back in their own box after the non-call on the Havertz tackle, and the ball was passed to Jorginho. Jorginho had two Spurs players marking him and instead of clearing the danger or trying a long pass out, he tried to dribble his way out instead. He was of course dispossessed easily, and the ball was laid off to Pierre-Emile Hojberg, who struck the ball true from outside the box and levelled the game at 1-1.

Jorginho’s action of trying to dribble his way out of a situation that clearly required him to do something safer, led to the equalizer. Had Jorginho cleared the ball, there may have been an argument of the referee cheating Chelsea out of a foul, but CFC would still have had the lead most likely (or not).

The second equalizing goal has fans also furious with Taylor’s non-call. This annoyance is more justified, as Cucurella was clearly fouled during a corner and if that foul is given, the resulting corner doesn’t happen. However, as mentioned earlier, these things happen. It’s not the first time a call is going against a club hanging on to a lead by a thread so late in the game. Chelsea was still responsible for defending a corner given against them, something they did a horrible job of.

In the final corner kick of the game, Cucurella was not pulled, but this did not make him any more useful in defending the corner. He stood and watched Kane head the ball home for an equalizer, not that he was any close to the action to be even useful. The goal happened though because Chelsea was very poor at defending that corner.

Neither Thiago Silva (6 ft. tall) and Kalidou Koulibaly (6 ft. 2 tall) was involved in the aerial duel that saw Kane head the ball home. Silva was at the front post (too far in front of the action) and Koulibaly was too far behind the action. Poor positioning from CFC‘s key aerial figures saw Kane win that header easily. Again, while that corner and subsequent goal don’t happen if Taylor gives the free kick the other way, the goal equally doesn’t happen if Chelsea had dealt with the corner. One of those the Blues had control over, the other they do not. Ultimately, for the two equalizing goals, the Blues did not take care of what was in their control, and it cost them.