Tottenham 0-2 Chelsea: 'Racist behaviour among spectators' overshadows Frank Lampard's win vs Jose Mourinho

1/41
Joe Krishnan22 December 2019

Chelsea's 2-0 Premier League London derby win at Tottenham was overshadowed by reports of "racist behaviour among spectators" from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium stands.

Two tannoy announcements regarding racist abuse were read out over the PA system during the second half warning that "racist behaviour among spectators is interfering with the game", with Antonio Rudiger the target of the alleged abuse.

Much was made of the first managerial meeting between Jose Mourinho and Frank Lampard, the player who played such a pivotal part in the Portuguese's title-laden spell at Chelsea. The 'Master' vs the 'Apprentice'.

The 41-year-old opted to revert to the lesser-known 3-4-3 formation, with out-of-favour Marcos Alonso a surprise inclusion at left wing-back. Mourinho meanwhile opted not to start any of Spurs' three summer signings - with record buy Tanguy Ndombele only on the bench.

With a spot in the top four at Christmas on the line, the atmosphere was as loud as it has been for a London derby at the new stadium.

But it was the away side who found their feet early on with Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham looking dangerous in particular.

It didn't take long for Chelsea's bright start to pay off as Spurs were caught napping from a corner and that allowed Willian to dart inside Serge Aurier before curling superbly into the far corner from 20 yards.

Tottenham were struggling to find any rhythm in their passing but did manage to carve out one clear-cut chance when Moussa Sissoko cut back the cross for Harry Kane and he blazed over from 12 yards.

Chelsea continued to look the more dangerous side and made it count on the stroke of half-time after a bizarre piece of goalkeeping from Paulo Gazzaniga. Willian's chipped pass appeared to be too long for Alonso to reach, but the Argentinian decided against catching the ball and wiped out the Spaniard instead.

Incredibly, the referee Anthony Taylor penalised Alonso for the challenge but, after a long VAR review, he overturned the decision and pointed to the spot. Willian stepped up and coolly finished into the corner to give the Blues a massive two-goal advantage.

Mourinho sent on Christian Eriksen for Eric Dier at the break but it soon got worse for Spurs when Heung-min Son was given a straight red card for kicking out at Rudiger. The German then appeared to gesture towards the crowd before captain Cesar Azpilicueta reported an allegation of racist abuse to the referee, who then informed both managers.

An announcement was read out over the public announcing system to the fans reminding them that 'racist behaviour is interfering with the game' before a second announcement was made later in the game.

With yet another football game ending in farce, what happened on the pitch seemed to pale in comparison, although Chelsea could have easily had a third with N'Golo Kante and Michy Batshuayi both going close.

Chelsea saw out the final stages to seal a deserved win, but the repercussions of what happened during the match will surely go on for some time after the final whistle.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in