Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham: Player ratings as Pochettino completes double over Spurs
FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE — Chelsea kept their push for European football alive with a 2-0 win over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday night.
Spurs' woeful record of one win at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League era continued as they fell to a second defeat to former manager Mauricio Pochettino this season.
The Blues only had 11 fit senior players to call upon and filled their bench with academy starlets, but put in a great shift and were totally deserving of the win, all but ending Tottenham's realistic hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League.
Chelsea went close to taking the lead inside five minutes. Pape Matar Sarr gave away possession in midfield and Mykhailo Mudryk was able to play in Nicolas Jackson round the back. His effort trickled through the legs of Guglielmo Vicario and was swept off the line by Micky van de Ven, whose clearance bounced just over the bar off the right foot of Cole Palmer.
Noni Madueke flashed a shot over after Mudryk picked him out with a wonderful cross-field pass midway through the first half as their hosts continued to asset themselves.
Shortly after that chance, Chelsea broke the deadlock. A looping free-kick from Conor Gallagher was headed over Vicario by Trevoh Chalobah, with Tottenham undone by another set piece having left several players in blue free at the back post.
Mudryk went close again after Palmer wriggled his way free from a crowd of Spurs bodies and slipped through the Ukrainian, who this time saw a curling strike sail narrowly wide.
The visitors offered little in the first half but nearly equalised when Cristian Romero headed wide from a teasing Pedro Porro free-kick.
Just before the break, Pape Matar Sarr had a close-range shot blocked behind, but those were
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