Three Talking Points As Chelsea Fall to Preseason Defeat Against Tottenham

Xabi Alonso tasted defeat for the first time as Chelsea manager as the Blues fell 2–1 to Tottenham Hotspur in Sydney on Saturday morning.

Chelsea were on top for the opening 15 minutes but still ended up 1–0 down as a deflected strike from Sandro Tonali ricocheted beyond a helpless Teddy Sharman-Lowe in between the posts, but Estêvão soon tied things up with a smart header.

Spurs had grown into the game by half-time, but the momentum shifted back to Chelsea just three minutes after the restart when Spurs defender Kevin Danso, only introduced to the game at the interval, dragged João Pedro down to deny an obvious goalscoring opportunity and was shown a straight red card.

The dismissal changed the tempo of the game as Chelsea struggled to find clear-cut chances against a stubborn defense, and they were nearly punished in the dying embers as Rio Kyerematen fired against the crossbar on the counter.

Just as the game looked destined for penalties, Richarlison found himself alone for a tap-in in stoppage time after Jamie Donley’s strike came back off the post and landed right at the Brazilian’s feet, sealing the first defeat of the summer for Chelsea.

‘Battle of the Bridge’ Heads Down Under

Chelsea — Tensions boiled over a number of times. | Robbie Stephenson/PA Images/Getty Images

This match was a friendly by name alone.

As soon as this one got underway, the heat of this rivalry was made abundantly clear. Tottenham seemed slightly more aggressive in the opening stages, with Jan Paul van Hecke reigniting a feud with former Brighton & Hove Albion teammate João Pedro and Conor Gallagher putting in a meaty challenge after 10 minutes that earned him a yellow card.

Chelsea’s physicality was perhaps less obvious but by no means non-existent, with both sets of players clearly looking to steal a march on their rivals heading into the new season. If either new manager had any questions about the strength of this rivalry, they will have been answered.

Gittens’s Hot Preseason Continues

Pedro stole the headlines from the frantic 6–4 win over Western Sydney Wanderers, but under-pressure winger Jamie Gittens is doing his best to establish himself as the star of the summer for Chelsea.

Gittens scored in both behind-closed-doors friendlies against Bromley and Crawley Town, followed that up with a goal against Western Sydney and then added an assist for Estêvão’s equalizer here with a delightful cross.

Few players need a morale-boosting preseason quite as much as Gittens, whose debut season fell well short of expectations. While new signing Morgan Rogers continues to recover from the World Cup, Gittens needs to make every second count this summer. Thanfully for him, he’s doing exactly that.

Familiar Problems for Chelsea

Xabi Alonso experienced Chelsea’s main problem first-hand. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

The red card shown to Danso completely changed the tide of this game as Chelsea were challenged to assert their dominance against a Spurs outfit well aware they were now the underdogs.

It’s the sort of situation in which Chelsea found themselves on a number of occasions last season, and the story had the same ending once again here. The Blues pushed and pushed and pushed, but simply could not find a way through. In the end, their profligacy was punished, albeit after a raft of substitutions that did as much harm to the fluidity of the game as the red card in the first place.

Alonso now has his first taste of this familiar issue, hopefully giving him plenty of time to work out a solution ahead of the start of the new season, when defeat to Spurs would mean a whole lot more.

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