Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea. Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur StadiumAttendance60,059.
Free highlights and match report as goals from Thiago Silva, N'Golo Kante and Antonio Rudiger seal a 3-0 win for Chelsea over Tottenham; London derby featured emotional tributes to the legendary Jimmy Greaves, who died on Sunday
Sunday 19 September 2021 22:29, UK
Thiago Silva, N'Golo Kante and Antonio Rudiger were on target as Chelsea produced a brilliant second-half performance to beat Tottenham 3-0 in #GameZero at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
On a day of emotional tributes to Jimmy Greaves, the Tottenham, Chelsea and England legend who died on Sunday morning, Thomas Tuchel's side underlined their title credentials in impressive style.
Following an even first half in north London, the visitors took charge of the game when Silva headed Marcos Alonso's corner beyond Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris shortly after the break.
The hosts were still reeling from that setback when Kante, a half-time substitute for Mason Mount having recovered from an ankle injury, doubled Chelsea's lead with a long-range strike which took a deflection off Eric Dier before bouncing in off the post.
Spurs had been bolstered by the return of Heung-Min Son as well as Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso but they had no answer to Chelsea's second-half performance and fell further behind when Rudiger dispatched Timo Werner's cut-back in stoppage time.
This was Tottenham's second three-goal defeat in as many Premier League games following last weekend's loss at Crystal Palace. For the upwardly-mobile Chelsea, though, it was just the latest statement of intent from a side with serious title ambitions.
The two sets of fans joined together in an emotional minute's applause for Greaves before kick-off, with a group of Tottenham legends including Glenn Hoddle, Martin Chivers, Ledley King and Ossie Ardiles leading the tribute from the touchline.
The much-loved striker started his career at Chelsea before going on to become Tottenham's record goalscorer but there was no love lost between his two former sides once the game - the world's first to achieve net zero carbon emissions - got under way.
It started at a frenetic pace, with both sides pressing high up the pitch and attacking at speed. Son, back in the Spurs team for the first time since the international break, looked particularly dangerous but the first real chance fell to Chelsea's Kai Havertz.
The 22-year-old was in space in the Spurs box when Cesar Azpilicueta's header fell to him but failed to make a proper connection with his shot, much to the satisfaction of the home fans behind the goal.
Spurs were swiftly back on the attack but almost got caught out on the break a few minutes later when Mason Mount charged forward and exchanged passes with Romelu Lukaku inside the Spurs box. Like Havertz, though, the Chelsea man sliced his shot.
Spurs looked like they might open the scoring not long after that when Sergio Reguilon ran in behind the Chelsea defence from Son's pass, but his low cross aimed towards Lo Celso was cut out by Rudiger.
Andreas Christensen curled a long-range effort narrowly wide for Chelsea and Son spurned Tottenham's best opportunity of the half when his heavy touch allowed Kepa Arrizabalaga, starting in place of Edouard Mendy, to smother his shot.
It all changed, though, with Kante's introduction for Mount for his first appearance since the end of last month.
Spurs could not get to grips with Chelsea's formation change as Tuchel sought to gain control of the midfield.
Silva's goal, headed home from close to the penalty spot, came either side of two excellent opportunities for Alonso, the first of which saw his vicious volley pushed over the bar by Lloris, the second of which was hacked off the line by Dier.
Chelsea didn't have to wait long to extend their lead, however, with Lo Celso losing possession in his own defensive third and allowing Mateo Kovacic to feed Kante, whose deflected shot wrong-footed Lloris.
It was only thanks to Lloris's sharp reflexes, though, that Chelsea's lead was not already bigger before Rudiger added their third in the final few minutes of the game.
Before that, the Frenchman parried another header from Silva and also made excellent stops from Werner and Kovacic as Chelsea poured forward.
Rudiger's strike capped a dominant performance from Tuchel's side and left Spurs to ponder a second consecutive defeat by a three-goal margin, rendering their winning start to the season a distant memory ahead of next Sunday's north London derby against Arsenal, live on Sky Sports.
Tottenham head coach Nuno Espirito Santo: "There were a lot of things that went wrong. Let's start with the first half - I think it was a good game, competitive. We were on the front foot, started pressing high, creating problems and had chances.
"In the second half, the set-piece and goal changes the game. Then it becomes much harder, the game totally changed and Chelsea took control and were the better team in the second half.
"It's difficult, but I'm proud of the first half and of all the game because we had troubles in the team and the players went to their limits."
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel: "I was absolutely not happy with the first 45 minutes. There were individual performances which were great in the first half from Kepa and Thiago Silva. More players were good but in general we lacked intent, energy and relentless in duels and 50-50 balls.
"I had the feeling we wanted to impress by pure skills but in derbies like this it is not always about just skills. It is about aggression, winning duels and performing better as a team.
"We spoke clearly about it at half-time. In the second half it was a very good performance and a deserved win. It was a very good reaction so I am happy with the performance in the second half."
Tottenham are away to Wolves in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday before facing north London rivals Arsenal, live on Sky Sports from the Emirates Stadium next Sunday.
Chelsea face Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday before resuming their Premier League campaign at home to Manchester City on Saturday.
