Premier League 2, Division 1, 2019-20
   Lamex Stadium, Broadhall Way, Stevenage
        Monday 6th January 2020, 7pm

           SPURS     v    CHELSEA
       (White/Blue)      (All Blue)
          4-1-4-1         4-2-3-1

            0(0)            1(0)

     Brandon Austin  1  Jamie Cumming
     Jubril Okedina  2  Henry Lawrence
        Tariq Hinds  3  Jake Wakely
     Elliott Thorpe  4  Marc Guehi(C)
    Timothy Eyoma(C) 5  Ian Maatsen
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster6  Clinton Mola
    Dilan Markanday  7  Armando Broja
Tashan Oakley-Boothe 8  George McEachran
     Rodel Richards  9  Charlie Brown
   Armando Shashoua 10  Theirno Ballo
      Shilow Tracey 11  Tariq Uwakwe

  Phoenix Patterson 12  Jon Russell
          (4)70Mins     (10)46Mins
   Joshua Oluwayemi 13  Karlo Ziger
       Rayan Clarke 14  Lewis Bate
         (11)88Mins     (11)80Mins
   Jonathan Dinzeyi 15  Dynel Simeu
Maurizio Pochettino 16  Xavier Simons
                        (9)90+2Mins

Scorer:-
                        Broja 82

Booked:-
    Thorpe 10(Pull)     Russell 56(Foul)
    Markanday 61(KBA)
    Oakley-Boothe 68(?)

Coach:-
      Wayne Burnett     Andy Myers

Attendance:– 591

Referee:– Adrian Quelch
Assistants:– Martyn Holmes & Jack Bloxham
Fourth Official:– Jeffrey Aldous 

It was a cool overcast evening after some light rain in Stevenage for the visit of the unbeaten leaders Chelsea. The leaders had drawn their last three games with Liverpool taking a 1-1 draw in the most recent. Spurs' last game had been a 2-0 loss at Manchester City that followed the 4-0 defeat of Liverpool to suggest that it could be an interesting game. Last season Spurs drew 1-1 here having to play over half the game with ten men. Earlier in the season Spurs drew 2-2 away with the "Blues" rescuing the point deep in added time.

Spurs lined up with Austin in goal behind Eyoma and Lyons-Foster with Okedina at right back and Hinds on the left. Thorpe made his first start and was the midfield anchor with Oakley-Boothe and Shashoua ahead of him. They were flanked by Markanday on the right and Tracey on the left in support of Richards up front. There was no place for Skipp, Tanganga or Parrott who were with the first team at Middlesborough, or for the returning Carter-Vickers and Jack Clarke.

Spurs defended the North end in the first half which saw them take the game to the league leaders. Oakley-Boothe had an effort wide of the left post before Thorpe got an early booking for a pull on McEachran and he got a few more warnings during in the game as he battled with the visitors' midfielders. Uwakwe got down the left and cut inside before firing wide.

Most of the early play was in the Chelsea half as they defended deep with their only threat coming from set pieces. Guehi headed over from a corner and another one saw a back post header by Wakely cleared off the line by Lyons-Foster. Tracey fired wide before long range efforts by Mota and Broja were off target as the end of the half approached.

Chelsea made a change for the start of the second half which saw an early effort by Richards fly wide and Okedina fired over from distance. Austin saved from Brown before Russell was booked for a foul on Oakley-Boothe. When Chelsea won a corner on the left Markanday was booked for kicking the ball away to allow the Spurs defence to get organised. I noticed that when a Chelsea player walked away with the ball later to prevent a quick goal kick he was not booked.

Following another attack down the left by Spurs, Oakley-Boothe was booked for something that I did not see. Markanday fired wide for a corner as Spurs continued to press. Patterson replaced Thorpe in midfield before a half-cleared free kick was hit over by Uwakwe. Markanday drew a save from Cumming before a long ball by Lyons-Foster gave Patterson a chance that was wide.

When Spurs lost possession in midfield the ball was played to Broja on the right and his early shot beat Austin at his near post to give the visitors the lead. With time running out Spurs replaced Okedina with Clarke but Chelsea were able to see out the game and Brown fired wide on the break before he was taken off in added time.

This was a close game with Spurs having the better of the play but Chelsea showed why they are unbeaten all season restricting chances to a minimum and doing just enough to take the points. It would have been interesting if Spurs had been able to field Skipp and Parrott for this game. Spurs travel to play Derby County next week at Loughborough University on Monday evening.

Ray

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