Sometimes you have to take the long view in football whether you like it or not. After the weekend's breathless 96 minutes against Spurs, it was important to see the bigger picture. There were a number of Chelsea players who played at the very top of their game, which to be honest wasn’t the case against Everton the week before. This tells us that the Goodison Park outing was just rustiness. Already, a week later, the team is looking very good, all things considered, and that is a great relief.

• James frustrated but confident after derby draw

• The stats behind Loftus-Cheek's brilliant performance against Spurs

• Watch the highlights of our 2-2 draw with Tottenham

It was great to see Reece James back to his unstoppable best. If ever there was a guy who deserved to score the winning goal it was him and, but for some hair raising calls by the officials, he would have been celebrating the winner as well as his deserved man-of-the-match award.

Marc Cucurella probably will not enjoy the 'hair raising' line above and I feel his pain. Well, I would do if I had enough hair these days. It was incredible that his assailant Cristian Romero didn’t get a second yellow card for what was a pretty vile foul. It is not quite the biting antics of another player we all remember - and Branislav Ivanovic remembers all too well - Luis Suarez, but it is the type of infringement that is very much frowned upon in the game. That is putting it mildly!

Our Spanish left-sided flying machine can, however, look back on what was an exceptional first start for the Blues at the Bridge. He has shown already that he basically does everything and does it very well. He is an intelligent defender and constant danger going forward, because he will always run into space or take on defenders to get to the byline at every opportunity. Doing the commentary with our own Jason Cundy, Jase called him tenacious. I could think for a fortnight and not find a better single word to sum up his playing style.

Add on top of this a quality of passing that is right up there with the best that have come through the fabulous La Masia youth system in Barcelona and you must accept we have a player who is going to be one of our favourites for many years to come. There were moments on the left-hand side when he linked up with N’Golo Kante and maybe even more so with Mason Mount that almost took the breath away. This looks like a very exciting area of the side just now, which is to take nothing away from the qualities of Ben Chilwell, if and when he is preferred.

I could go on waxing lyrical about the left flank and I’m tempted to do so but, in all honesty, even though they were extremely good, even they were outshone slightly by our right flank. The job done by James and Ruben Loftus-Cheek was nothing less than a triumph. They destroyed the Tottenham defence at will for just about three quarters of the game with a display of skill and power that was breathtaking at times. Whisper it, Spurs are a decent side, but they were made to look very average for long periods, particularly down that flank.

If this wasn’t Ruben’s best game in a Chelsea shirt, I want someone to tell me which one was better. There have been fine performances before, but this was a step above against top opponents when he used all of his skill, physique and added a huge dollop of confidence. Just as important as anything else, this time he looked as fit and as strong in the final quarter of the match as he did at the start.

For all that Mount and Cucurella had a brilliant understanding, the link-ups and the danger caused by Loftus-Cheek and James working in tandem was constant and unstoppable. It helps when you are playing right beside someone you have played with since you were a kid and that really showed. This partnership could be one of the great finds by Thomas Tuchel. There was a moment in the first half when Ruben drifted in at the back post and was just inches from scoring with a header. Had he notched there he might even have pipped the mighty Reece for man of the match.

Tuchel must have also been delighted by just how well the two worked together in a subtle piece of visionary tactics that helped stymie the visitors for most of the match. Reece was ostensibly the third centre-back, but when Son Heung-Min dropped into the pocket, Reece was tasked with following him in there. When it happened, the gap that left behind was immediately filled by Ruben.

This is one of Spurs' favourite ploys, but TT and the lads sussed it out and snuffed it out. In the end Antonio Conte had to change his entire system and live by the seat of his pants going to a back four he doesn’t favour. It worked in the end but he got lucky. Chelsea were the better side and should have picked up all three points, Antonio and any sensible person watching will know that.

In the end, however, for all the fine performances, the odd decisions, the entertainment on and off the field and quality football, as well as the generally brilliant, boiling atmosphere (the new owners must have loved it - just get used to it folks, this is the Chelsea way) one thing will stick in the mind above all others.

Kalidou Koulibaly’s opening goal of the game and the first of his Chelsea career is already a classic. In 20 or 30 years’ time we will still be watching that goal and we will still be loving it. There have been difficult days over the past few weeks, months and, indeed, years. Last weekend felt like walking out into the sunshine again at last.