Chelsea narrowly won 2-1 over Tottenham Hotspur in the London Derby in the English Premier League at Stamford Bridge Stadium on Saturday (22/2).
Tottenham get a number of opportunities to score first at the beginning of the match, but has not been able to make the Lilywhites excel. Opportunities from Lucas Moura in the 11th minute are also still not bearing fruit.
Host Chelsea actually managed to open the scoring first in the 15th minute through the left foot kick striker Olivier Giroud. Giroud’s goal came after Ross Barkley hit the crossbar of Hugo Lloris.
However, the wild ball fell to the foot of Giroud who was in the penalty box. With one control Giroud immediately fired hard left foot before the ball hit the ground.
Giroud’s shot goes narrowly towards the near post and cannot be defeated by goalkeeper Lloris. For Giroud, this is his first goal in the Premier League this season.
Luck has not been on Tottenham’s side in the first round. Defender Davinson Sanchez’s header in the 35th minute was wide.
Chelsea added scores early in the second half thanks to Marcos Alonso’s spectacular goal. Additional goals from Chelsea were again created thanks to the acceleration of Barkley.
After getting a pass from the right side, Barkley who was in front of the Tottenham penalty box gave feedback to Alonso who ran from the left side.
At the right time Alonso fired hard left foot from outside the penalty box. Alonso kicks the ball fast to the bottom left side of goalkeeper Lloris.
Tottenham continued to try to get a goal back, but defender Toby Alderwireld’s header in the 66th minute still hit the Blues defense.
Towards the end of the match Tottenham succeeded in reducing their position through an own goal by defender Antonio Rudiger in the 89th minute who failed to anticipate an Erik Lamela kick.
In the remaining time, Tottenham try to equalize. However, until the match was over, the score remained 2-1 for Chelsea’s advantage.
With this result, Chelsea remain in fourth place in the Premier League standings with 44 points. The Blues are four points ahead of Tottenham who are below him.
With 11 matches left, this distance will be very valuable for Chelsea.
“This is a very important match for us. I want to talk about team spirit, we show great character today. We know this might be a kind of turning point,” Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud was quoted by the BBC.
“We lost our confidence a little. It feels good to be able to get up and win this victory, a difficult victory from big rivals, so I feel relieved. Tottenham are clearly rivals for the Champions League, so we are happy to be able to open a four-point gap,” added Giroud.
Victory over Tottenham at the same time stop a bad series of Chelsea. Previously the west London team were without a win in four successive matches, twice in draw and twice in defeat.
“I hope this is the beginning of a series of good results, now we need to focus on the Champions League. This match will be good for confidence and for the dressing room,” Giroud said.
