Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur, Friendly: Post-match reaction

It was already a celebratory evening at Stamford Bridge, with the stadium nearly full for the first time in a long time (minus the areas still under construction for the installation of rail seating) and the Champions League trophy paraded around prior to kick-off. And then the match kicked-off and Chelsea, buoyed by the home crowd, absolutely dominated Spurs for the first 45 minutes.

Hakim Ziyech opened the scoring and came close to adding to that a couple times. Timo Werner was running everywhere and also scored a very good goal, but which was disallowed for offside by a very incorrect flag from the linesman. Alas, no VAR in preseason friendlies, and that’s probably just fine.

Chelsea were quite comfortable at the other end, especially with N’Golo Kanté absolutely ruling the midfield and Mateo Kovacic playing aggressively as well. Edouard Mendy had nothing to do for long stretches of the half.

The second half began in much the same manner, with Ziyech quickly getting on the scoresheet again to double our lead.

But mistakes crept into our game with all the substitutions, and Spurs came back to draw level at two with goals from Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn, following cheap giveaways from Tiemoue Bakayoko and Malang Sarr. Bakayoko in particular had a torrid time out there.

Chelsea pressed for a third, with Tino Anjorin and Christian Pulisic especially lively, but could not beat Spurs goalkeeper Gollini, who had a pretty good game.

Oh well.

Carefree.

• First half (3-4-3): Mendy | Rudiger, Chalobah, Zouma | Alonso, Kovacic, Kante (c), Hudson-Odoi | Havertz, Werner, Ziyech
• Pulisic (for Hudson-Odoi) and Bakayoko (for Kante) at the half. Zouma and Chalobah switch positions, with the latter playing a more of hybrid right back role behind Pulisic. Good versatility from the youngster, who’s had a very good preseason.
• Line change on the hour-mark to switch out most of the rest, going back to more of a 3-4-3 shape: Mendy | Sarr, Ampadu, Chalobah | Kenedy, Bakayoko, Loftus-Cheek, Zappacosta | Anjorin, Abraham, Pulisic
• Miazga on for Chalobah for the final ten minutes.
• Next up: UEFA Super Cup next Wednesday (Aug 11) against Villarreal in Belfast