This was an encounter of the highest technical quality and an even higher tetchy quality. Scratch below the surface – as Fernando Torres attempted to by grabbing Jan Vertonghen’s face – of a hurly-burly London derby and here are two genuine Premier League contenders.
For Chelsea the second-half was their best 45 minutes of the season, which is ominous for the rest of the division, while for Spurs there is a growing belief that a top four finish is attainable and with it Champions League qualification. And maybe more.
It was the game of two halves, quite literally as the cliché goes. Spurs dominated the first, Chelsea claimed the second. The game-changer? Well it had to be – and it was – Juan Mata who came on at half-time and as he had done at White Hart Lane 12 months ago ran the show.
How galling that must have been for Andre Villas-Boas who brought the Spaniard to Chelsea and has then looked on perplexed as he has been deemed second-choice, at present, by Jose Mourinho who has publicly questioned his work rate.
But then, of course, Villas-Boas and Mourinho have their differences. As have been well chronicled. Sorcerer and apprentice; master and upstart and all eyes were on the pair prior to kick-off as they prowled by the side of the pitch appearing to be separated by an imaginary exclusion zone.
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