By MattoftheSpurs
April 8 2007

Chelsea went into this match having played a Champions League quarter final against Valencia on Wednesday night at home. Tottenham also played in midweek. The only difference being that Spurs played Sevilla on Thursday night away in Spain 7th April 2007

Chelsea (0) 1
Carvalho 52’

Tottenham (0) 0

FA Premier League

Stamford Bridge

Attendance: 41,864

If you go into the Chelsea Mega store you will find the club are doing the Chelsea shirts cheap. No doubt because they are changing them at the end of the season. Something that never changes is the ability to get your favourite players name and number on the back of the shirt. If you go into the shop and quietly ask they will provide you with a shirt with ‘R.Styles’ on the back. I believe his squad number is 49.

Chelsea went into this match having played a Champions League quarter final against Valencia on Wednesday night at home. Tottenham also played in midweek. The only difference being that Spurs played Sevilla on Thursday night away in Spain. Meaning that whilst the Chelsea players could sleep soundly in their own beds on Wednesday the Spurs players were sleeping in hotel rooms. The Spurs players then trained at Sevilla’s ground on Friday before flying home Friday evening. I doubt many Tottenham players even had time to unpack their travel bags before they had to set out for this important 12.45 pm kick off in West London.

Consequently Martin Jol made some changes to the team that played on Thursday. In came Mido and Defoe with Berbatov dropping to the bench and Keane staying at home to unpack. Lee was also missing. Partly due to needing a rest and also die to a knock he picked up in the UEFA Cup match. Stalteri came in for the right back berth whilst Chimbonda switched to left back. Aaron Lennon also stayed at home for this one with Ghaly taking his place. Rocha came back for his usual centre half position whilst Teemu Tainio moved to the centre of midfield replacing Zokora who took his place amongst the substitutes. Malbranque came in to fill the left hand side of the midfield.

Chelsea left Shevchenko and Ballack on the bench whilst Joe Cole featured amongst the subs after being out for most of the season through injury.

The match started with Chelsea, unsurprisingly, coming out of the blocks the fastest. Barely thirty seconds were on the clock when Wright-Philips on the Chelsea right had beaten Chimbonda to put in a dangerous cross which just eluded the oncoming Blues forwards.

Spurs began to find some rhythm in defence and were holding Chelsea at bay. Up front Mido and Defoe were getting little or no service as the majority of the Lilywhites concentrated on defending. Chances were few and far between. Dawson blocked superbly from a Lampard effort and Robinson saved smartly from a Carvalho. Tottenham finally managed a shot after 43 minutes when a Jenas effort clipped of John Terry in the Blues defence to go for a corner.

The second half started with neither manager making a change in the playing staff. Spurs started well and 4 minutes into the 2nd half Mido had a superb chance with a header. A cross from Chimbonda found Ghaly on the right hand side of Chelsea’s penalty area. Ghaly headed the ball back into the danger area and the onrushing, unmarked Mido got to it first. Mido’s header was directed straight and Cech managed to tip the ball over for a corner. Two minutes later and Spurs would find themselves a goal behind.

A Chelsea attack was broken up by the Spurs defence. The ball fell to Carvalho some forty five yards from goal. The Portuguese defender advanced with the ball and after the Spurs defence were slow to close him down he unleashed an angled drive from thirty yards. Rocha appeared to have the ball covered but pulled away at the last second leaving Robinson stranded. Despite the last second dive from the Spurs keeper the ball found the lower right hand corner of the Spurs net and the deadlock was broken.

Tottenham attempted to retrieve the situation. Defoe had a stinging shot just past the hour mark which Cech spilled. Sadly there was no Spurs player in an advanced position to put in the rebound and the Chelsea defence cleared the danger.

Martin Jol responded to his sides malaise and made some changes. First the teenager Adel Taarabt came on for the hard working Tainio. This was soon followed by the popular Berbatov replacing Mido. The changes had the desired effect with Taarabt having an excellent shot which Petr Cech just managed to tip round the post. Zokora then came on for Jemaine Jenas and it was the Ivory Coast’s man that floated in a delicate free kick which Dimitar Berbatov headed powerfully towards goal. Once again Cech in the Chelsea goal was equal to it and tipped it over the bar.

That header proved to be the last meaningful attempt from either team and the Stamford Bridge favourite Rob Styles blew for full time. Chelsea had won but Spurs, despite the deck being stacked against them, had not been disgraced.

Tottenham had taken on Chelsea in four encounters this season and all had been great games. Chelsea have just edged it over the four matches by winning 2 and scoring seven goals. Spurs in reply had scored 6 and notched up the famous win at White Hart Lane in November.

Despite losing there is no disappointment. I did not expect Tottenham to get much from the game because of the short lead in time after the Sevilla match but what I did not expect was for the Spurs side to give the Champions such a hard ride on their own pitch.
Each and every Spurs player tried their best and that as supporters is all we can ask for. The goal that we conceded was disappointing but I apportion no blame to either Rocha or Robinson. It was just one of those things. I think that Spurs deserved a point from this match at least but we can take heart that in four encounters this season Tottenham have matched the champions in every area. Long gone are the days of being beaten 3-0, 4-0, and even 6-0 by the Blues from West London. Now the mind focuses on the task on Thursday night. This, for me at least, is the big one. Sevilla did not show me anything to be afraid of from the first leg. With the explosive White Hart Lane crowd behind the boys we will win and this trip to Stamford Bridge will be but a distant memory as the Spurs go marching on to our destiny in Glasgow.

Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Bridge, Makelele, Lampard, Mikel (Cole 83),
Wright-Philips (Ballack 71), Drogba, Kalou (Shevchenko 74).

Tottenham Hotspur: Robinson, Stalteri, Chimbonda, Dawson, Rocha, Jenas (Zokora 81), Tainio (Taarabt 64), Ghaly, Malbranque, Mido (Berbatov 69), Defoe.