Nobody could doubt that Chelsea deserved their victory at Stamford Bridge over Tottenham Hotspur, but all of the goals conceded by the visitors had more than a hint of self-sabotage about them as a series of shocking errors from Spurs' defence allowed the Blues to hand them a shoeing.
Chelsea vs. Tottenham: Final score 4-0, Hazard and Eto’o help Chelsea thrash shaky Spurs
Tottenham shot themselves in the foot to give Chelsea a resounding win at Stamford Bridge, after Jan Vertonghen first blundered before Younes Kaboul gave away a penalty and a red card. Further mistakes saw Demba Ba score two late on.
Clive Rose
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Spurs had held Chelsea in the first half before a calamitous error from Jan Vertonghen allowed Samuel Eto'o to score. Younes Kaboul brought the Cameroonian down just afterwards, conceding a red card and a penalty which Eden Hazard converted. Errors from Sandro and Kyle Walker late on then allowed substitute Demba Ba to add a brace and complete a horrible day for Tim Sherwood's men.
In truth, the game could have been over in the first 30 seconds. Eto'o - only starting due to Fernando Torres suffering an injury in the warm-up - was sent clear and brought down by Hugo Lloris, only to be wrongly ruled offside, the Spurs keeper fortunate to escape without a penalty and a red card. The incident almost repeated itself just afterwards when Hazard was the subject of another reckless challenge from Lloris, but the Belgian stayed on his feet to go around the keeper but could only find the side netting rather than the open goal.
The game then settled down after such a wild start, and Nabil Bentaleb was guilty of being too greedy after he foolishly elected to go for goal himself rather than setting up a teammate during a fine opportunity for Spurs from a counter-attack. Eto’o almost punished them shortly afterwards but dragged his shot wide, and the game duly petered out until half-time.
Not long into the second half, though, disaster struck for Tottenham. Vertonghen lost his footing when playing the ball out from defence, and under pressure from the Chelsea forwards, played the ball back to goal while on the ground - unfortunately, he had not noticed the presence of Eto’o, and the former Barcelona man swooped down to collect the ball and finish coolly through the legs of Lloris.
Spurs were now chasing the game, but they had barely had time to collect themselves before they were out of it completely. Hazard broke down the left and played a low centre for Eto’o, who had gotten goalside of Kaboul and appeared to be bundled over in the area in the process. A penalty and a red card was harsh, although perhaps correcting the earlier mistake in the first minute. Hazard coolly dispatched the penalty and put Chelsea into a position from which victory was all but certain.
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Eto’o had the chance to add to Spurs’ pain with a third goal but delayed his shot and was eventually crowded out, before Hazard also missed a decent opportunity. Fortunately for Spurs, Chelsea did not seem too interested in making the defeat a rout, and the rest of the game looked like it would be an uneventful affair. Yet more self-sabotage was to rear its head in the Spurs backline, and their defeat was soon turned into a shoeing.
Substitute Demba Ba was sniffing around for a goal, and found a fine opportunity when Sandro slipped over in the Spurs half, with the former Newcastle man able to pounce on the loose ball and fire the ball home to compound Spurs' misery. Almost immediately afterwards, it was four courtesy of another horrific error, this one coming when Kyle Walker foolishly attempted to head the ball back to his own goalkeeper from 30 yards. Ba was there again, and easily rounded Lloris to make it 4-0.
That was the final goal in the game after a truly horrible day for Spurs. They are not out of the chase for the top four yet, but they have never looked further away than today.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Lampard (Oscar 46’), Matic, Ramires, Hazard, Schurrle (Willian 66’), Eto’o (Ba 76’).
Goals: Eto’o 56’, Hazard 60’ (pen), Ba 88’, Ba 89’
Spurs: Lloris, Naughton, Dawson (Fryers 72’), Kaboul (Sent off 61’), Vertonghen, Sandro, Bentaleb, Walker, Sigurdsson (Paulinho 61’), Lennon, Adebayor.
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