Premier League 2, Division 1, 2017-18
       Hotspur Way, Whitewebb Road, Enfield
       Saturday 18th November 2017, 12 noon

            SPURS     v     CHELSEA
        (White/Blue)       (All Blue)
           4-1-4-1           4-3-3

             2(1)             3(1)

      Alfie Whiteman  1  Jamie Cumming
        George Marsh  2  Reece James
     Keanan Bennetts  3  Trevoh Chalobah
        Oliver Skipp  4  Jake Clarke-Salter(C)
     Japhet Tanganga  5  Josh Grant
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 6  Kyle Scott
       Shilow Tracey  7  Harvey St Clair
        Luke Amos(C)  8  Ruben Sammut
     Shayon Harrison  9  Martell Taylor-Crossdale
      Marcus Edwards 10  Jacob Maddox
         Erik Lamela 11  Callum Hudson-Odoi

           Ryan Loft 12  Kylian Hazard
      Brandon Austin 13  Marcin Bulka
    Joseph Pritchard 14  Luke McCormick
          (11)60Mins     (10)66Mins
    Kazaiah Sterling 15  Cole Dasilva
          (10)75Mins     (9)88Mins
   Christian Maghoma 16  Joseph Colley
           (3)63Mins

Scorers:-
         Harrison 11     Taylor-Crossdale 2, 53
         Sterling 90+4   Hudson-Odoi 90+2 (pen)

Booked:-
   Pritchard 62(Late)    Chalobah 15(Foul)
   Whiteman 90+1(Foul)   Sammut 79(Foul)

Coach:-
       Wayne Burnett     Joe Edwards

Attendance:- 157

Referee:– Christopher O'Donnell
Assistants:- Kieran Bailey & Lee Grimsey
Fourth Official – Ryan Whitaker

It was a cold and rainy morning for the visit of Chelsea to Hotspur Way. While Spurs have started the season poorly the visitors have been just as bad and sat below Spurs in the table knowing that a win would take them above the home side. Spurs lost their last game 1-0 at Derby while Chelsea drew with Arsenal. Last season Spurs drew 2-2 with Chelsea at Hotspur Way.

Spurs lined up with Whiteman behind Tanganga and Lyons-Foster with Marsh at right back and Bennetts on the left. Skipp anchored the midfield with Amos and Lamela ahead of him. They were flanked by Edwards on the right andTracey on the left in support of Harrison up front. Lamela was making his first appearance in a Spurs shirt for over a year.

Spurs defended the West end in the first half which saw the visitors make a fast start putting the Spurs defence under pressure taking an early lead. It came from a short corner that Hudson-Odoi played in to Scott at the near post. Scott crossed into the six yard box for Taylor-Crossdale to score. St.Clair was played in on the right but his effort was blocked by Tanganga getting across to concede a corner from which Maddox had a drive blocked.

Spurs began to get into the game and Edwards sent Harrison away to beat Cummings as he held off Clarke-Salter. Edwards hit a free kick wide after Bennetts was fouled on the edge of the area by Sammut. Chalobah was booked for a foul on Bennetts as Spurs began to push forward. The game was more even now with Lamela firing wide for a corner from which Amos drove wide. Hudson-Odoi fired wide before Tracey drew a save as the game became more end to end. Bennetts cleared a drive by Maddox off the line and Tracey was played through for a chance but driven wide. Lyons-Foster headed wide from a Lamela corner towards the end of the half.

There were no changes for the start of the second half. Chelsea again began quickly with St.Clair firing over. Hudson-Odoi fired wide for a corner from which James had his first effort cleared off the line and when it came back to him he hit it wide. St.Clair got down the right and crossed for Taylor-Crossdale to get his second goal with a header into the far side.

After an hour Lamela was replaced by Pritchard who went into the ref's book for a foul within two minutes. Spurs' second change saw Bennetts replaced by Maghoma who went into the back four with Lyons-Foster moving to left back. James had an effort over the bar when Taylor-Crossdale laid the ball off to him while the big striker had another header go over.

Spurs' last change saw Sterling come on for Edwards, going up front with Harrison moving to the right. After Skipp made a good run out of defence Harrison was caught from behind by Sammut as he received the ball which saw the Chelsea midfielder booked. McCormick found space on the left but drove straight at Whiteman to win a corner. A free kick from Harrison was headed on by Tanganga for Cumming to collect.

As the game went into added time McCormick was again played in but Whiteman was out quickly only to concede a penalty with his challenge and earn a booking. Hudson-Odoi sent him the wrong way from the spot kick to score to his left. That should have been it but Spurs kept going and Marsh had two opportunities to cross from the right and his second found the head of Sterling at the far post for a second goal for Spurs.

It was another close game despite the visitors having more possession than Spurs due to their high pressing and quick breaks. Once Spurs got going the game was fairly even and played mainly in the middle third. As with the Villarreal game in midweek Skipp found it hard to cope on his own with the pace of the attacking players he faced and needed the help of his captain. It was a good workout for Lamela who showed some of his passing skills without going into any hard tackles in the hour he was on. Chelsea's win and United's draw in the Manchester derby sees Spurs drop two places to tenth with a trip to Manchester City next Saturday.

Ray

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