Chelsea responded to the humiliating start to their title defence by extending Tottenham’s Wembley woe with a 2-1 victory in the first Premier League clash at the national stadium.
Marcos Alonso scored twice for the visitors as Antonio Conte’s men, crowned champions in May, recovered from their opening home loss to Burnley.
Alonso’s first-half free-kick was cancelled out by Michy Batshuayi’s own goal eight minutes from time.
But Chelsea were not finished and Alonso struck again to finish off Spurs, whose record since Wembley reopened in 2007 reads: played 11, won two, drawn one and lost eight.
Here we look at two key protagonists, Harry Kane and Alvaro Morata and analyse their performances.
Goals – 0
Shots – 8 (1)
Shots on target – 3 (1)
Touches – 42 (10)
Key passes – 2 (T2)
Dribbles – 2 (T3)
Dispossessed – 1 (T5)
Aerials won – 0
Harry Kane
Goals – 0
Shots – 4 (1)
Shots on target – 0
Touches – 33 (9)
Key passes – 1 (T2)
Dribbles – 0
Dispossessed – 3 (T1)
Aerials won – 4 (1)
Alvaro Morata
On another day the England man buries one of his numerous chances.
He was extremely unlucky with a crisp strike which cannoned off the inside of the post in the opening 45 minutes and realistically Spurs wouldn’t have wanted that first-half whistle because Kane, Eriksen and Alli were beginning to link up well.
The complexion changed in the second half, though, and in the last 30 minutes when he was needed most, Kane was largely anonymous after being their most dangerous player in the first half.
Question marks remain over his mental fortitude to elevate his side when they need it most and against Chelsea it was another example of why the critics persist.
However, he could have been a victim of Spurs’ pace of play drastically slowing down and it meant he was getting lost between the visitor’s two defensive banks.
Overall, in the first half he was at his energetic best, dropping off and contributing to the build-up while tirelessly pressing the ball – all that was missing was a finish.
Bar the bullet header of own goal from Batshuayi, Chelsea were brilliant from a defensive standpoint as their organisation held firm against Tottenham’s first hour siege.
Going forward was a different matter, though, and Morata was left largely isolated.
Still, he should have opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Cesar Azpilicueta’s whipped in cross from the right found him completely unmarked only for the Spain international to head wide.
Opportunities such as that are why Chelsea signed him but Morata jumped too early and fluffed what should have been a routine finish.
Away from that key moment, his imprint on the game was minimal because it’s clear he needs someone like Eden Hazard up alongside him.
Morata is a pure No9 in the sense he doesn’t drop back to find the ball and if Chelsea’s creative talents struggle to pick him out, well, then there’s a danger he’ll be frozen out which was the case against Spurs.
9 min: SHOT – Close from Kane who catches N’Golo Kante static to work room for a shot on the turn from 20 yards and Courtois allows the strike to squirm beneath before eventually gathering the second attempt.
28 min: SHOT – Kane slaloms through two Chelsea players and into the area and his shot is saved by Courtois and as the ball is returned to the Spurs striker he flops off minimal contact from Alonso wrongly claiming for a penalty.
41 min: POST – Alli gets the ball into Kane and he strikes true and with power but the ball cannons off the inside of the post and back into play.
Kane is booked after Chelsea’s second
4 min: CHANCE – A sitter from Morata early doors as he sneaks in between two Chelsea defenders but gets up too early to meet Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross from the right and plants his header wide.
70 min: SHOT – Willian’s direct running puts Spurs on the backfoot and he feed Morata who is speeding through on the left but he can’t quite get his feet together an his tame shot is twice deflected before bouncing just wide.
77 min: SUBSTITUTED – Batshuayi comes on for Morata and then almost immediately scores an own goal.
Morata shoots
An August Premier League goal still alludes Kane – he’s not scored in 12 now – but he hit the post, chased a first-half equaliser and posed the most danger to Chelsea’s back three.
His movement off defenders was intelligent and his pressure on the ball tenacious. He just looked a little lost in the last half hour but he was one of the hosts’ standout players in defeat.
His confidence is lacking and ultimately he should have scored inside five minutes.
A contrasting performance to his substitute appearance last weekend but he fell foul of a dire supply line.
All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com
