By Ireti Asemota.
On Saturday, Chelsea narrowly defeated Tottenham Hotspur 1–0, extending the home team’s poor run at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and Joao Pedro finally scored a goal. The Brazilian striker struck late in the first half to give Enzo Maresca’s side all three points in the London derby. Since scoring against Fulham on August 30, it was Pedro’s first goal in nine games across all competitions. Signed from Brighton for £60 million in the summer, the 24-year-old has now scored three times for Chelsea this season.
Chelsea moved up to fourth place in the Premier League with the victory, their third in their last four games. They are level on points with Tottenham, who are in third place, but they are behind on goal difference. At home, Tottenham continues to struggle. The last time Tottenham won at home was against Burnley on the first weekend of the season. Their home record in the league has been poor. The poor run began under Ange Postecoglou and has continued under Thomas Frank, who arrived from Brentford but has yet to steer the ship.
Despite Spurs’ impressive 3–0 victory over Everton in their previous league game, fans are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with Frank’s conservative approach, which many feel goes against the club’s tradition of attacking. Spurs’ chaotic first half Lucas Bergvall was injured in the head and had to be replaced by Xavi Simons because of a concussion, giving Tottenham a head start. The Swedish midfielder appeared upset at being withdrawn, shoving one of the medical staff before Frank intervened to calm the situation.
Early on, Chelsea appeared to be the more dangerous team, and Alejandro Garnacho forced Guglielmo Vicario to make a smart save from a distance. After receiving treatment for what appeared to be a knee injury, the Italian goalkeeper carried on and denied Joao Pedro from close range after a fortunate rebound. However, the Brazilian would not be denied a second time. Moises Caicedo exerted a lot of pressure in the 34th minute to win the ball from Simons and Micky van de Ven near the box. He squared the ball to Joao Pedro, who fired a shot high into the air from close range. Thomas Frank kicked a water bottle on the sideline as a retaliation for another side’s poor defense. Keep Chelsea in charge Shortly after that, Pedro put Vicario to the test once more with a fierce strike that was tipped over the bar and almost doubled his score. After a reckless challenge on Reece James, Spurs midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur only received a yellow card. At the other end, Robert Sánchez was called upon to stop Mohammed Kudus’s powerful drive just before halftime. After the restart, Enzo Fernández squandered a golden chance to make it 2–0, heading over the bar from James’ cross despite being unmarked inside the box.
Tottenham’s possession woes persisted, and home fans’ frustration grew as their attacks repeatedly failed. Pedro Neto forced Vicario into another fingertip save late on, but Spurs never looked close to finding an equaliser.
