Interval shift

‘They turned us around and we had to go backwards rather than press forwards and then it became very difficult,’ noted Frank Lampard about Tottenham’s second-half showing last night, with our manager’s view borne out by the statistics.

We were dominant before the break, enjoying a 71.1 per cent share of possession. We had three attempts to Tottenham’s two, and recorded an 89 per cent pass completion rate to our hosts’ 75 per cent.

We also won 13 tackles as we stifled Spurs in the middle of the park, but things would change when play restarted.

Our 218 accurate passes in the second half was 150 fewer than we mustered before the interval, while our completion rate overall dropped to 85 per cent, as Tottenham’s rose to 83 per cent.

Our four shots were dwarfed by the home side’s nine, while the seven tackles we won was also down on the first half.

Still, until six minutes remained we had limited Tottenham to very few clear opportunities, as the Expected Goals (xG) map below shows. The larger the dot, the better the chance.

Timo off the mark

The xG map also reinforces just what a fine finish it was from Timo Werner for his first Chelsea goal with what was his 11th shot for us in all competitions. It was one of a joint game-high three attempts the attacker had last night.

Werner also had 59 touches of the ball, the most of any Chelsea player in the front four, while he was willing to get stuck in defensively. His three successful tackles were not bettered by anyone, and matched by Jorginho and Fikayo Tomori.

Other statistical highlights

Kurt Zouma’s nine clearances was comfortably a game-high figure.

Of those players who started, Mateo Kovacic topped the chart for pass completion rate with 94 per cent.

Jorginho spent the most time in possession (9.3 per cent).