Tottenham’s second-half double heaps more pressure on Graham Potter – 5 talking points

TOTTENHAM 2-0 CHELSEA: Second-half goals from Oliver Skipp and Harry Kane condemned Graham Potter’s Blues to their third successive defeat, while Spurs strengthened their position in the Champions League places

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Tottenham v Chelsea: Pictures

Tottenham Hotspur turned the heat on Graham Potter after ousting his limp Chelsea side 2-0 in a fiercely-contested London derby.

Oliver Skipp’s scorching strike 30 seconds into the second half and a neat effort from Harry Kane fired Spurs to victory and gave them a four-point cushion in fourth place. The hosts continued their good home form under the stewardship of first-team coach Cristian Stellini to boost their Champions League ambitions, as Antonio Conte recovers from an operation to remove his gallbladder.

Chelsea themselves look in need of surgery, with Potter now on a bleak run of three successive losses. The under-fire boss has seen his men score just one goal in their last six games and win just one of their 11 matches in 2023. The Blues could still count themselves fortunate to have 11 players on the pitch, tough, as Hakim Ziyech saw his first-half red card for a shove on Emerson Royal overturned after a puzzling call referee Stuart Attwell.

Here are five talking points from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Silva’s early bath gives Fofana a way in

The Blues’ Mr Reliable since he signed from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2020, the battle-hardened Thiago Silva rarely wilts when faced with injury. This time out, however, a knock to the knee in attempting to stop Harry Kane charging at goal saw him substituted after just 19 minutes, as the 38-year-old defender couldn’t play through the pain in a blow to Graham Potter.

Fortunately for £75million summer signing Wesley Fofona, he was able to replace him from the bench, having played a mere 45 minutes of first-team football since October 5. The French centre-back, still only 22, has been plagued by injuries both this season and his last at Leicester City, and Silva’s injury could present him with an opportunity to nail down a place in Potter’s rather ramshackle defence.

Wesley Fofana replaced Thiago Silva after just 19 minutes (

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Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images) Attwell’s bizarre VAR call sees Ziyech escape

In a game which looked to be attempting to give Liverpool’s bore 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace a run for its money as far as a lack of action on the ball went, there was at least some needle between these two sides in the opening 45 minutes. As is commonplace when Chelsea and Tottenham meet, there were plenty of skirmishes between blue and white shirts throughout a dismal first half.

Whether it be Cristian Romero and Kai Havertz clashing, Richarlison making a nuisance of himself or Harry Kane leaving one on Kepa Arrizabalaga after some rather bizarre time-wasting, supporters inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were at least given some off-the-ball entertainment.

Hakim Ziyech was shown a red card before Stuart Attwell overturned his decision (

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JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

But it was Hakim Ziyech who emerged at the centre of the malice in added time. After he brought down Richarlison, a fracas ensued between both sets of players. Over came Emerson Royal and the Brazilian wing-back appeared to purposely bumped into Ziyech, who responded by shoving Emerson in the face.

Referee Stuart Attwell brandished yellow cards for Havertz and Emerson before walking back to the scene of the carnage to show Ziyech a red. Bizarrely, though, Attwell promptly walked over to the pitch-side monitor to review his decision and within seconds overturned his original call, instead showing the Chelsea star – who didn’t even have time to get off the pitch – a yellow.

Skipp scorcher piles pressure on Potter Oliver Skipp gave Tottenham the lead 30 seconds into the second half (

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Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Commiserations to any Tottenham fans who got caught in the half-time queue, as they’ll likely have missed Oliver Skipp’s humdinger of a strike to put Spurs 1-0 up a mere 30 seconds in the second half. After Chelsea failed to deal with a Tottenham attack, Skipp outmuscled Felix to cut out Fernandez’s weak clearance.

The Spurs midfielder saw his name in lights and lined up a strike which swerved away from Kalidou Koulibaly and caught Kepa flat-footed. After the Spanish goalkeeper was only able to get fingertips to it, Skipp wheeled away in celebration of his first senior goal on his 44th Tottenham appearance.

Have your say! Who’ll finish higher – Tottenham or Chelsea? Let us know your prediction in the comments section.

Forster comes to the fore (

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JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

As the closing stages dawned, substitute Mason Mount gave Chelsea hope of an equaliser with a deft flick through to Havertz which saw him clean through on goal. Facing him was a 6ft 7in behemoth of a goalkeeper, Fraser Forster, who expertly rushed out and cleaned up the danger.

Grabbing the ball off Havertz’s toe, Tottenham’s backup goalkeeper – deputising in the absence of Hugo Lloris – proved his worth with a second successive clean sheet. That chance proved to be the Blues’ best of the second half, as they suffered a third successive and bruising defeat, while Spurs ground out a third home win on the bounce.

Kane seals the deal

Erling Haaland may have 27 Premier League goals but Harry Kane boasting 18 isn’t to be sniffed at. His latest one was arguably the most simple that he’ll get all season, lurking at the back post on a corner and slotting into an empty net thanks to Eric Dier’s flick-on before a mundane final 10 minutes of normal time took place.