Looking Forward

CHELSEA (Away)

Premier League

Wednesday 13th March 2002

Our season will peter out in traditional style and the side will be unable to spark anything approaching a decent performance.

Expect some vendettas to be carried over and the ref will be a busy boy.

Goals, probably from Hasselbaink this time, will decide the match.

No change from a trip across London.

PREDICTION : -  Chelsea  2  Tottenham  0

For more information on the opponents and their history, including full result history of matches between the two teams, click here.

Scorers : -   Chelsea  -  Hasselbaink 24, 69, 81, Lampard 90
                  Tottenham  -   None

Chelsea :  None

Tottenham :  Sherwood (foul) 40, Thatcher (foul) 48, Perry (foul) 55, Taricco (foul) 60

TEAMS 

Chelsea :  Cudicini; Babyaro, Desailly, Gallas, Melchiot ; Lampard, Petit, Le Saux, Gronkjaer (Stanic 78); Hasselbaink (Forssell 83), Gudjohnsen (Zola 73)
Unused Subs : -  De Goey, Dalla Bona

Tottenham : Sullivan; Taricco, King, Richards (Perry 46), Thatcher (Gardner 68); Davies, Poyet, Sherwood, Ziege; Sheringham, Ferdinand (Rebrov 81)
Unused Subs : -  Keller, Etherington 

COLOURS

Chelsea  :  Blue shirts, blue shorts, white socks

Tottenham :  White shirts, navy blue shorts, navy blue socks

Embarrassing, humiliating, frustrating and downright annoying.  Spurs lost their third consecutive game by four goals to nil in this Premier League match at Stamford Bridge.  Still reeling from the drubbing at White Hart Lane four days ago Tottenham should have been looking for early revenge. 

Hoddle had brought in Taricco and Thatcher from the start, but it made very little difference to a Spurs side totally lacking in pace when they go forward.  Spurs started positively and moved the ball well without creating any real chances.  The travelling Spurs fan's worst nightmare began on 24 minutes.  Le Saux set Hasselbaink away on the right.  For some unknown reason Richards decided to back off and show Jimmy the goal.  What Jimmy saw was Sullivan advancing from his line.  Not needing a second invitation Hasselbaink curled the ball over Sullivan and into the top corner with his right foot. 

The next time Richards backed off, Sherwood went head to head with Deano and no doubt told him a few home truths about defending.  Richards did not emerge for the second half.  Perry replaced him.  

Matters however deteriorated rapidly.  Taricco behaving like an idiot launched into Le Saux in the far corner of the field.  Le Saux seeing his opportunity to avenge his sending off in the previous game, he rolled around in agony until the red card was produced and then promptly jumped to his feet smiling at the Chelsea fans.  Taricco decided to applaud the entire stadium as he left.  He was set up, but should know better.  A long ban awaits. 

Spurs were chasing shadows.  They never looked like equalising.  Further goals followed with regular monotony.  Gronkjaer took the opportunity to race to the line outpacing poor Poyet easily.  The cross was met by an unmarked Hasselbaink who headed firmly past Sullivan.  

On 81 minutes Hasselbaink completed his hat trick.  This time he cut in from the right, left two Spurs defenders on the floor and curled a left foot shot over Sullivan into the other corner.  

Lampard of all people delivered the final nail in the coffin.  With the ball pinging around in the Spurs area, he eventually drove it home. How the Chelsea fans enjoyed themselves.  They spent the entire evening taunting Spurs.  When they sang “Your season's over” most Spurs fans probably felt the same way.  Sheringham was once again dreadful and has clearly lost form.  The sharper opposition players exposed him and he is becoming a liability when he plays like this.  “If only” Les Ferdinand also contrived to miss any half chances created for him on the night.  Surely Rebrov must be worth a few full games given that the two strikers are playing so poorly.  Poyet and Ziege looked tired.  It is starting to look as if age is catching up with a number of our players. 

Eric the Viking

ONE DOWN 
... AND ONE DOWN

His recklessness has no place in the Spurs team, especially as it appears that Hoddle told him to keep calm during the match.  Unfortunately, this is an alien concept to Taricco.  I really do not know what has happened to him recently.  He never seemed like the sort of player who would perpetrate such fouls in the past, but perhaps the lack of a challenge for his place in the team has caused him to become blasé and think he is invincible.  It is particularly strange after Hoddle had spoken out about the way he tackled Gravesen in the match at Goodison Park early in the season.  Having said that there is no place for tackles like that in the Tottenham game, it is hard to see how Hod will find a place for him in the side after this.

With Carr breaking down again, it is unlikely that he will play again this season, while the same could be said for Tano after Monday's match against Charlton Athletic when he starts his suspensions.  Therefore, it could be a chance for Hoddle to try some other options out.

One he tried in this match just didn't work form the start.  Playing four at the back as a tactic from the beginning seemed to throw the side, who became easily vulnerable to the through ball to one of their twin strikers.  Both Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen both shot narrowly wide when through on goal early on and if not for that, it could have been much more embarrassing.

Not that it mattered for long.  Hasselbaink had the chance to thrash the ball on the curl past Sullivan when he ran at the backing off Richards on the edge of the box.  The power of the man is frightening.

Spurs managed to hold out to the break and went forward a little, but couldn't make a decent chance.  Perry came on for Richards at the break and this was probably an enforced move, as the centre-half was not fully fit, by the look of him, but Perry offers more reading of the game than his more physical colleague.

However, with things reasonable even in the first quarter hour of the second half, Taricco goes for Le Saux in a fairly unsubtle act of revenge for Sunday and gets the red card.  Maurie has been putting in tackles that are so late and high lately, that Ben Thatcher would be ashamed of them.

Leaving the action, he clapped the Spurs fans and made himself look a bit of a berk.  While no-one likes Le Saux, no-one likes to lose 0-4 to Chelsea either.

When Thatcher left the game, subbed by Gardner, he had not really let Gronkjaer get past him to any great effect, but within a minute or so, the Dane crossed for JFH to head past Sully.  Tottenham's one decent opportunity came when Ziege crossed, but Les couldn't get on the end of it ... no surprise there then.

The hat trick came when he smashed another curling shot past Sullivan to crown a pretty good performance by the Dutchman.  He didn't last much longer after that and it was to Spurs' relief that he was substituted.  Even then, Forssell came on and he has been on fire when entering play from the bench lately.  Somehow, he failed to score tonight.

Perry and King both stopped goal-bound efforts on the line, so things could have been a lot worse, but there was little heart left by the time Lampard scored from short range after a shot was blocked on the line from Babayaro.

Too many Spurs players are letting the side down.  Sherwood was back to his form of last season, Teddy still is off form, Les couldn't get his legs going and Deano looked suspect all night.  With no hope of Europe now, Hoddle must change things around, but with limited resources available, that will not be easy.  The older guys must be used sparingly now, with others taking the starting positions.

We have to build for next season starting now.  Charlton won't be easy (they haven't lost a London derby this season), so it will need resolve from those in the white shirts of Spurs on Monday to start getting the style back that was evident up until Christmas.

KEITH MENDAMENT