How dominant was Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur?

Chelsea led many attacking metrics and railroaded Tottenham into making errors from start to finish on Sunday. The Blues never stopped catching Spurs out of position. Even Conor Gallagher came on and instantly won the ball back high up the pitch, resulting in a very good chance. Chelsea was very good in the latest installment of the London Derby. In fact, Thomas Tuchel’s side was superb throughout 90 minutes. However, were the Blues as dominant as they looked?

The simple—yet somehow still complicated—answer is yes and no. There’s more to be taken from the game than just questionable refereeing and managerial scraps. Nothing happens in isolation. Thus, while Chelsea was very good going forward by getting on top of Spurs, giving them little space to get out of their own half most times, Tottenham fashioned its own chances by being less proactive and more reactive. It was a game plan that worked well given the circumstances, one that allowed it to leave Stamford Bridge with a point against a better side.

Chelsea should’ve beaten Spurs on Sunday, but how dominant were the Blues?

For one, Chelsea took six more shots than Tottenham. Spurs registered two more shots on target than their hosts though. Half of Tottenham’s 10 shots were on target, compared to three out of 16 shots from the Blues. This brings us to a very important part of “Dominating Your Opponents 101.” Preventing the opposition from getting decent or good goalscoring chances is crucial, and Chelsea did neither of these.

The Blues conceded eight shots from inside the box, just three less than their opponent did. Allowing eight shots from inside the box is a problem, but when you consider that they weren’t low quality shots either, that statistic is more indicting. Four of the eight shots Chelsea allowed inside the box were big chances. By the 45′ mark, the hosts could’ve already conceded two goals, regardless of how many goals they may have scored.

Chelsea got lucky at points in this match too. One clear example of this was on a free chance squandered by Spurs when Ryan Sessegnon caught Chelsea defenders sleeping. He had a free run through on goal at Chelsea goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy. Mendy came out on top, but that was a very good chance for Spurs to take the lead early on in the match. Another opportunity that may come to mind is the one where Harry Kane was through on goal but he dragged his shot wide. Thiago Silva was not close enough to Kane to prevent a shot in that situation and that’s another opportunity Tottenham missed to score a goal.

Chelsea only created two clear-cut chances, though it created a lot of good chances throughout the match. This inability to prevent Spurs from creating quality chances kept Antonio Conte’s men in the game. Add this to all of the other bad decisions and mistakes that the Blues made and you see that Tottenham isn’t as undeserving of a point as is being made out.

In the wake of the latest London Derby, the story is about the non-call by Anthony Taylor in extra time and the feisty encounter between Tuchel and Conte. It’s being made to look as though Chelsea gave Spurs no way into the game and a clean sheet was assured if only Taylor had penalised Cristian Romero for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair. The reality is far from that.

Allowing four clear-cut chances means you already forfeit your right to a clean sheet, because you cannot allow that group of Tottenham forwards four big chances against you and still expect to come out of it unscathed. It’s important not to interpret the point being made in this piece. Chelsea played very well, but the Blues were only superb going forward. There were too many defensive lapses to give Tottenham a chance to get something out of the match.

Yes, you can blame Taylor for the result. But that only absolves the Blues of responsibility and gives the impression that had those Taylor decisions gone in favor of Chelsea, the Blues would’ve won, which is far from true. In a reality where Taylor’s decisions go in favour of Chelsea, what if Kane and Sessegnon convert their chances and the Blues still draw 2-2? What if in that same reality Spurs converted all four clear-cut chances they created, what then?

The what-ifs are endless. The Blues should make sure they do a better job of shutting out opponents, not just in terms of goals, but also goalscoring opportunities to begin with.