Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham report: Olivier Giroud inspires Chelsea victory

The Frenchman was handed his first league start since November and rewarded boss Frank Lampard's trust with his fine first half strike and a hand in Chelsea's second.

Marcos Alonso doubled his side's lead just after half time as Chelsea dominated the encounter with their far more positive approach.

Spurs pulled one back two minutes from time as Erik Lamela's weak shot deflected in off the unlucky Antonio Rudiger, but the visitors offered nothing else in the closing stages to threaten an undeserved equaliser.

Tottenham were also fortunate to finish the contest with 11 players. Giovani Lo Celso should have seen red for a stamp on Cesar Azpilicueta midway through the second period. VAR reviewed the decision and said no red card. However, according to BT Sport, Stockley Park later admitted the decision was wrong.

The result means Lampard's Chelsea are the first team to defeat a side managed by Jose Mourinho both home and away in a single league season.

Stamford Bridge chief Lampard had challenged Chelsea to take control of the race for fourth place ahead of this London derby grudge match, and the Blues finally delivered after weeks of nervy performances and patchy results.

Giroud broke the deadlock after a cagey opening, capping a threatening attack for the Blues at the third time of asking.

The France striker beat the offside trap from Jorginho's through ball and hit the target. Hugo Lloris could only palm into the middle of the box, and the onrushing Ross Barkley thumped an ugly effort against the right post.

Giroud was in no mood to waste another rebound however, latching onto the loose ball with a fine steadying touch, before firing past Lloris at the near post.

The goal stood after the inevitable VAR check to make sure Giroud was onside in the first place, leaving Lampard to celebrate with no little trace of sarcasm.

Chelsea saw two goals chalked off by VAR in Monday's 2-0 home loss to Manchester United, and on finally staying on technology's good side Lampard was unable to resist a narked, over-exuberant toasting of the decision.

Alonso thumped a fine 20-yard volley just over the bar as Chelsea continued to press, before the hosts rode out some concerted Spurs pressure.

Davinson Sanchez missed a prod at a squirming ball across the face of goal, Azpilicueta produced a fine block from Lucas Moura's shot and Japhet Tanganga's loose control wasted a potential one-on-one.

Alonso capped a smart team move with an even better strike after the break, Giroud flicking on to Mason Mount who in turn fed Barkley to flick through for the onrushing wing-back.

Lo Celso then somehow escaped a red card despite a nasty stamp on Azpilicueta, with Chelsea again the frustrated party after a VAR review.

The Blues again had the right to feel aggrieved at the decision however, especially in light of United captain Harry Maguire avoiding censure despite kicking Michy Batshuayi in the groin at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

Mount skinned Jan Vertonghen to lay on a fine chance for replacement Tammy Abraham, who could not quite poke past Lloris.

Lamela profited from a deflection off the luckless Rudiger to cut Spurs' arrears at the death, but Chelsea held on for a fully merited victory.

OPTA Stats

• Frank Lampard’s Chelsea are the first team to defeat a side managed by Jose Mourinho both home and away in a single league season.
• Chelsea have won three consecutive home games against Spurs in all competitions for the first time since a run of seven between October 1996 and March 2002.
• Tottenham have won just one of their last 34 away games against Chelsea in all competitions (D11 L22), a 3-1 win in April 2018.
• Chelsea have won more points in Premier League London derby matches than any other team, with the Blues picking 461 points.
• Tottenham have conceded 2+ goals in 10 Premier League away games this season – their highest such tally in a single campaign since 2008-09 (11).
• Since he joined Chelsea in 2016, Marcos Alonso has more goals (17) and goal involvements (28 - 17 goals, 11 assists) than any other defender in the Premier League, with three of these goals coming against Spurs.
• Olivier Giroud has been directly involved in 14 goals in his last 14 starts for Chelsea in all competitions, scoring 10 and assisting four.
• No Premier League side has scored more own goals this season than Chelsea (3 – level with Watford).

Relive our live blog....

Full-time: Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham

There goes the whistle and Chelsea earn a deserved and much needed victory.

Giroud the hero inspiring Chelsea to this win. In truth Chelsea should have won by more and Spurs, who suffer back-to-back defeats, were lucky to score at the end.

Chelsea are now four points clear of Spurs in fourth.

93: Spurs offering little

Spurs have failed to mount any more attacks to even get close to earning a late equaliser

90: Injury time

Four minutes to be added on. Spurs have time and Stamford Bridge has got nervous.

88: GOAL - Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham

Lamela

Lamela will try to claim it but it will probably go down as an own goal from Rudiger.

Lamela drives into the box on the left, shoots on the fall and it deflects off Rudiger's heel to send the keeper the wrong way and the ball rolls in.

It is a lucky goal but we have a big finish now

I called both teams to score in the second half at 3/1, did you take it?

83: More VAR farse

BT Sport have just announced that the VAR officials have just admitted they should have sent Lo Celso off for his stamp on Azpilicueta, having originally decided not to send him off.

Also, why didn't ref Oliver go to the screen and check the incident himself? Madness

81: Alonso hits the bar

Alonso won't come closer to getting his second.

Free-kick on the right edge of the box, Alonso curls into the top corner. Lloris can only stand and watch as it crashes back off the crossbar

79: Lloris incredible save

What a save from Lloris to somehow stop it being three.

Great spin from Mount, which gets him away down the right. He cross low into the six yard box and Abraham taps home from close range. But somehow Lloris dives behind himself and stops the ball dead with one hand. How did he do that?

Abraham then crashes into the post for his efforts

77: Spurs subs

Subs two and three for the visitors.

Bergwijn is off for Alli

Alderweireld is replaced by Aurier

76: Chelsea sub

Willian is on for Barkley. He's not scored since his brace against Spurs back in December

73: Penalty shout

WInks goes down in the penalty area with a clash of legs with Rudiger but Michael Oliver and VAR so no. They've been given!

70: Chelsea sub

Giroud is off after an excellent performance and gets a huge reception from the home fans.

Abraham replaces him, as he looks to add to his 15 goals

66: Free-kick over

Lamela goes to curl it into the top right corner, but it is not high enough and deflects off the wall for a corner

Caballero catches under his crossbar while under pressure from the resulting corner. Good keeping.

65: Yellow card

The masked Christensen takes down Moura as be gets turned. Yellow card and a free-kick to the visitors just to the right of centre, 25 yards out. Dangerous..

62: Spurs sub

First sub of the day is made by Tottenham. Ndombele is off and Lamela is on. Can he help inspire a comeback?

Alli remains on the bench

60: Spurs try

Spurs do finally push forward to try to get one back.

Ndombele turns away from his marker well and storms into the box. But he takes an extra touch when he really should have shot and it allows James to get back and clear the ball away from him

Sporting Life ACCA

Don't miss out on this weekend's Sporting Life ACCA. We've seen it come in twice in the last four weeks, so lets do it again

Head here to back Preston, Coventry, Sunderland and Plymouth all to win enhanced to 15/2 with Sky Bet

GOAL HIGHLIGHT

52: Potential red card

Spurs day almost got worse as VAR checks a challenge from Lo Celso, who looks to have stamped down on the shin of Azpilicueta.

VAR takes its time and eventually says no red, as to be fair to Lo Celso it was accidental as he was going to stamp on the ball until Azpilicueta's leg came in late.

Lampard is fuming the player is not sent off. Players have certainly gone for that type of challenge in the past.

50: Barkley so close

Chelsea look to make it 3-0 straight away, Barkley gets in just into the area on the left and drills into the top corner and Lloris has to show strong wrists to tip it over

Corner comes to nothing

48: GOAL - Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham

Alonso

Oh, it is a wonderful goal from Chelsea.

Giroud flicks on to Mount, who gets away down the right wing. He squares the ball across the box to find Barkley on the edge of the D. He unselfish draws the last two defenders and flicks to his left to Alonso

The wing back first time drills down low across goal into the far corner. Fine finish giving Lloris no chance at all

Second half kicks off

No changes for either side as we get underway again at Stamford Bridge

Second half tips

I can certainly see Chelsea scoring again in this game. Spurs haven't been great, but still had three decent chances in the first period, plus we know the home side's defence is poor.

So both teams to score in the second half at 3/1 is tempting for me, as it Giroud to bang a brace at 11/4

Full markets here

SKY BET PRICE BOOST

At half time Sky Bet have Price Boosted:

• Olivier Giroud to score a brace is 11/4
• Steven Bergwijn to score the 2nd goal is 8/1
• Both teams to score in the 2nd half is 3/1

Full markets here

Half time stats

• Possession: Chelsea 64.8% v 35.2% Spurs
• Total Shots: Chelsea 9 v 3 Spurs
• Shots on target: Chelsea 3 v 2 Spurs
• Passes: Chelsea 365 v 195 Spurs
• Pass success: Chelsea 89% v 78% Spurs
• Corners: Chelsea 2 v 4 Spurs

Half time: Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham

Chelsea lead and deservedly so. They've been the more positive team and created some excellent chances.

Barkley, Jorginho, Mount and Giroud have been lively and Tottenham haven't been able to cope.

Having said that, Chelsea's weak defence has shown up again today, with Moura having two good chances, and Caballero has been forced into two solid saves.

But Spurs definitely have to find a new creative spark in the second half to truly have a chance of finding an equaliser.

45: Injury time

One minute to be added on.

Tottenham doing the pressing, but haven't mounted anything to concern Chelsea supporters

Mourinho is already down the tunnel and clearly not happy

39: Barkley wide again

Barkley knocks the ball passed Sanchez and fires wide of Lloris' near post.

36: Spurs go close

Tottenham almost get a bizarre equaliser. Long ball from the back, going from left to right.

Tanganga gets his foot to the ball first to try and bring it down. Instead it flicks off his foot and runs towards goal. In the meantime Caballero has needlessly rushed out to the edge of his box, so this unintended flick goes pass him.

This results in a foot race between keeper and attacker to get to the ball rolling towards an empty goal first. In the end neither get there in time and it just rolls wide.

34: Moura is in...

More flicks and one time passes gets Moura in on the left of the box, he shoots low and a diving block from Azpilicueta ensures the ball deflects over for a corner rather than into the back of the net.

From the corner Cabellero has to tip over a flicked header from Sanchez for another corner.

31: Giroud goes again

He has his tail and confidence up now and Giroud tries one from 25 yards out. It is messy, going well, well wide.

But it shows he is up for this one and faces another goal.

He is 4/1 to score the next goal and Sky Bet have Price Boosted him to 9/4 to get a brace today

30: Spurs getting frustrated

Spurs are trying to make things happen to get back into this one. But it is just not happened from them. Another pass goes astray and the body language from the players is not good.

A lot of hand gestures, angry faces and choice words

23: Alonso so close

Alonso also makes it two, as he controls the ball with his knee on the left edge of the area and, with no one expecting it, fires in a volley with his right foot. It is a wonderful strike and goes wide of the right corner my a few millimetres.

GOAL HIGHLIGHT

20: A long time coming

This is Giroud's first league start since November, but his last league goal for Chelsea was even longer ago. When, I hear you cry.

Well, it was Wednesday April 3, 2019, in a 3-0 home win over Brighton. He got the first in that one too!

15: GOAL - Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham

Giroud

I said before the game, the script was written for the Frenchmen to get his first league goal of the season and there it is.

Jorginho plays a fantastic ball through to meet Giroud's run and he is in on the right edge of the box. He fires low across goal and Lloris saves with his foot.

Ball comes out to Barkley, who sends the keeper the wrong way with a half volley into the ground, the ball bounces up and hits the crossbar.

It comes back out to Giroud, 12 yards out on the right, and he fires low into the bottom near corner with incredible power. It is a wonderful finish.

VAR checks for offside - goal stands!

14: Barkley wide

Quick passing in central midfield gets Chelsea away again. Barkley picks up, carries 20 yards and fires right ot left on the edge of the area and just wide

12 Big Lloris save

Chelsea go straight down the other end and a lovely slide pass releases Mount into the left side of the box. At a tight angle he drills it at the near post trying to catch Lloris out. But the keeper reacts quickly and pushes wide.

From the corner Giroud gets in a powerful header that is deflected over. Second corner is cleared.

Game as sparked into life

10: Big save

Chelsea try to move away from their own area and they are quickly dispossessed. Lovely one-two between Moura and Bergwijn frees up the former who fires down low into the bottom corner and Caballero has to stretch and beat away.

Good move, good strike, good goal

09: First corner

First time we've seen Spurs string four passes together and they look smooth, quickly moving up field and winning a corner.

The first is poor, failing to beat the first man, who knocks it out for another corner.

The second is as bad and Chelsea dribble away

Wasteful

08: Fouls and missed place passes

Game has just stuttered with missed place passes from both sides and little fouls. So neither side have got going in an attacking sense yet.

05: Chelsea dominating

This maybe is settling already into what we expected. Chelsea are dominating possession, passing it around right to left and back again very nicely. Spurs have everyone behind the ball and are happy to let the hosts have the ball around the halfway line.

So all Chelsea, but they cannot get close to the Spurs box yet...

1230: Kick off

We are underway! And we have the white ball back out - winter is officially over!!

1227: Team's out

As the teams walk out at Stamford Bridge, a reminder of the team news

Chelsea: Caballero, James, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen, Alonso, Jorginho, Kovacic, Barkley, Mount, Giroud. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Abraham, Willian, Loftus-Cheek, Zouma, Emerson, Gilmour.

Spurs: Lloris, Tanganga, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Davies, Ndombele, Winks, Lo Celso, Bergwijn, Moura. Subs: Gazzaniga, Lamela, Dier, Sessegnon, Alli, Aurier, Fernandes.

Podcasts

Just a reminder that Sporting Life podcasts have new homes across the below platforms.

So you will need to find us again via the links below and re-subscribe - all for FREE still - in order to enjoy podcasts such as Premier League Weekly; Racing Podcast and Weekend Best Bets

Please make sure you subscribe to ensure you don't miss future episodes of your favourite show.

• Click here for iTunes
• Click here for Spotify

1220: Pre-match tip

Olivier Giroud gets a rare start in this one - the last time he started a Chelsea game was back in November in a 1-0 loss to West Ham.

He's yet to score in the league this season. This feels the perfect game for him to finally bag one, and remember he did score against Manchester United last time out, only for his foot to be offside to see VAR disallow it.

He is 7/5 to score anytime, 7/1 to score the first goal and to bang in a header he is 6/1

Fancy it? Then bet with Sky Bet here

1211: No place for Alli

1205: Lampard says..

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has told BT Sport: " This is a very big moment for us. We know how close the battle for the top four is; we know how close it is between these two clubs and we know how big the rivalry is. So the players have to show something here.

Our form is not anywhere near where we want it it to be, we've been very honest about that and have to resolve it and this type of game gives us the chance to go do that.

1156: Chelsea struggling at home

Despite Spurs' poor record at Stamford Bridge, there are a few rays of light for Tottenham coming into this one.

For one, the away side has won three of the last five Premier League meetings between Chelsea and Spurs.

For seconds, Chelsea are struggling at home. Frank Lampard's side have lost seven home games in all competitions this season - they last lost more at Stamford Bridge in a single campaign back in 1985-86, which was eight.

For thirds, Chelsea are winless in four Premier League games (D2 L2), last having a longer such run in the competition between October-December 2012 (seven games).

Tottenham to win is 19/5. The draw is 5/2

1153: Tottenham do not like the Bridge

Did you know that Tottenham have won just one of their last 33 away games against Chelsea in all competitions, drawing 11 and losing 21 of those.

That one victory was a 3-1 win in April 2018 in the Premier League.

Probably because of that, Chelsea are currently 3/4 to win this one with Sky Bet

SOCCER SATURDAY PRICE BOOST

The Premier League is back in full swing and Sky Bet have Price Boosted:

• Sheffield United, Leeds & Burnley all to win is 7/1
• Sheffield United & Leeds to win and Burnley to draw with Bournemouth is 10/1
• Sheffield United, Leeds and Bournemouth all is win is 11/1

Full markets here

1145: Lloris landmark

A landmark moment for Hugo Lloris, as the French keeper makes his 250th Premier League appearance - there has been some incredible saves in that time (and the odd howler)

1144: Pre-match tip

In our preview for this match our Premier League expert George Pitts has recommended the following...

0.5pt Giovani Lo Celso to score anytime in Chelsea v Tottenham at 7/1

The 23-year-old is yet to score in the Premier League, but he is showing plenty of promise. In his substitute outing at Aston Villa on Sunday he had two shots and was excellent in his performance in midweek

The club may miss Harry Kane and now Heung-min Son, but that means Lo Celso may have an even bigger role to play. With this in mind, the 7/1 to score anytime price looks far too good to pass up here. Even for a small play.

The 6/5 price for him to get one effort on target or 11/10 for 2+ shots is appealing, but his anytime odds looks excellent value in what should hopefully be a thriller.

Read tips for every match on Saturday right here

1141: Mourinho's thoughts....

Jose Mourinho has explained to BT Sport why Dele Alli only makes the bench. When I say explains, he hasn't, just been grumpy....

"I am not sure if you ask every manager in the Premier League when a player is left out. For other managers it looks like it is normal to leave players out and when I do it it is always a big story."

11:33: Tottenham team news

We all expected Dele Alli to take up the attacking responsibilities for Spurs today, but he is only on the bench.

Spurs: Lloris, Tanganga, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Davies, Ndombele, Winks, Lo Celso, Bergwijn, Moura.

Subs: Gazzaniga, Lamela, Dier, Sessegnon, Alli, Aurier, Fernandes.

11:32 Chelsea team news

Chelsea need goals and they've finally called upon Giroud to try and get them - he earns a rare league start for Frank Lampard's side

Chelsea: Caballero, James, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen, Alonso, Jorginho, Kovacic, Barkley, Mount, Giroud.

Subs: Arrizabalaga, Abraham, Willian, Loftus-Cheek, Zouma, Emerson, Gilmour.

Podcasts

Just a reminder that Sporting Life podcasts have new homes across the below platforms.

So you will need to find us again via the links below and re-subscribe - all for FREE still - in order to enjoy podcasts such as Premier League Weekly; Racing Podcast and Weekend Best Bets

Please make sure you subscribe to ensure you don't miss future episodes of your favourite show.

• Click here for iTunes
• Click here for Spotify

Welcome

Welcome to our first of three live blogs on this windy Saturday, as the Premier League returns in full force after the winter break.

We begin with Chelsea at home to Tottenham, with the hosts currently a point ahead of Spurs in this vital battle for a top four finish.

Following the end of this encounter we will have our second live blog as we follow all the 1500 GMT matches in the top flight and Sky Bet EFL.

Then at 1730 GMT it is all eyes on third against second as Leicester host Manchester City.

Three live blogs, plenty of in-play odds and tips and I'm sure lots of fun and drama along the way too.