Chelsea were clearly the better team at Stamford Bridge and the statistics underline our dominance. We enjoyed 63.7 per cent of the possession and completed 86 per cent of our passes, in contrast to Tottenham’s 79 per cent success rate. We completed 226 passes in the final third, the visitors just 60.

Every Chelsea outfielder who started the game bar Thiago Silva had at least one shot on goal, and it was our debutant scorer Kalidou Koulibaly who registered a joint game-high three attempts. Unfortunately, despite our superiority, we could not test Hugo Lloris more, only hitting the target with three of our 16 shots. Half of the visitors’ 10 efforts were on target.

Such was the consistency with which we pinned Tottenham back, we forced them into 32 clearances. The Blues only made five, with so much of the play in our attacking third. We swarmed all over Tottenham, refusing to let them settle and snuffing out counter-attacks at source, just as Thomas Tuchel had demanded pre-match.

Tactical shuffles cause Tottenham problems

Going forward, Mason Mount dropped into deeper positions to outnumber the visitors’ central midfield and drag their back three out of position, with the wing-backs overlapping to supplement our attack. Mount's seven tackles won was comfortably a game-high number and showed his determination to be in the thick of things.

When Tottenham responded in the second half by moving from 3-4-3 to 4-2-4, we exploited space on the flanks. James, now at right wing-back, was the unmarked player over to put us back in front, and just a couple of minutes earlier he had delivered a teasing cross Kai Havertz volleyed wide.

Although Tuchel would no doubt like to see yet greater efficiency from his attacking players, on another day the two goals we did score would have earned us a merited 2-0 win.

Roaming Ruben impresses

Ruben Loftus-Cheek demonstrated exactly why Tuchel put his faith in him at right wing-back.

Dominant physically, confident in possession and always dangerous running into space, Loftus-Cheek caused Tottenham plenty of problems down the right-hand side of the pitch prior to moving infield when Cesar Azpilicueta replaced Jorginho.

He played two key passes, a Chelsea-high figure alongside Raheem Sterling and Jorginho, and was successful with three dribbles. Only Kai Havertz with four beat his opponent more often.

Loftus-Cheek got stuck in, too, winning each of the three tackles he contested, coming out on top of three aerial duels, and not letting a Tottenham player get past him once.

Occasionally joining the frontline to add height to our attack when Edou Mendy opted to go long, Loftus-Cheek further displayed his versatility by sometimes moving into a more central role to support Jorginho and N’Golo Kante. That would be where he would finish the game, and even though it didn’t finish with the three points we deserved, Loftus-Cheek can take heart from another bright performance.