Jose Mourinho called Andre Villas-Boas childish after AVB had said to the media/press that his relationship with Mourinho has faded over time. Those words fueled the derby between the two London sides, but it quickly became more about football than the managers. As the match went on, more and more bitter battles developed and the main one became Fernando Torres and Jan Vertonghen. A battle that resulted in a controversial sending off.
It started off with a conserative approach from Jose Mourinho as he had left Juan Mata on the bench once again. Tottenham were all over Chelsea from the start and their dominanting start resulted in a goal after 19 minutes. It came a few moments after Torres thought he was fouled, but Mike Dean was having none of it. Then it was the beautiful linkup play between Eriksen, Sigurdsson and Soldado in which they combined in a triangle pass that lead to the Icelandic international netting for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. Eriksen easily went past Lampard before attracting two Chelsea defenders and then picked out Soldado who layed it off for Sigurdsson, who still had work to do. Tottenham's number 22 somehow squeezed it past Terry before sliding it past Cech for 1-0. The crowd at White Hart Lane erupted as Andre Villas-Boas was already thinking that his pre-match antics were paying off.
The match went on and Chelsea failed to get anything going. Spurs were still in control of the match, but they couldn't get much on target. Chelsea's first chance came after 40 minutes when a deflected Eden Hazard effort went out for a corner. The ensuing corner found John Terry, his header seemed to be goal-bound, but it was deflected and cleared away. Tottenham then went on a counter attack that was lead by Andros Townsend who found Paulinho inside the box, the Brazilian elected to shoot and he found the outside of the post right on the stroke of half-time. That might have been the knock-out blow, but thankfully for Mourinho's men, it wasn't.
The second half started and Mourinho had brought on Juan Mata for John Obi Mikel. The Chelsea manager electing to go all out and get his team back in the match and it worked. The Spanish magician turned the game on it's head, his influence is impossible to describe. Fernando Torres turned it on as well, he made a pair of great runs that nearly resulted in a goal. Early in the 2nd half, it was Torres who broke costless on the right side and he fired in a low cross for Oscar, who somehow got a touch on the ball, but couldn't direct it goalwards. A few minutes later, it was Torres again and this time he went past Dawson with ease before nearly chipping Hugo Lloris. Lloris was quick off his line and it was an outstanding piece of goalkeeping. However, Torres lost his cool after he thought Vertonghen dove and he grabbed the Belgian by the face. The linesman notified Mike Dean who was on the scene to book the Spaniard.
The difference was clearly visible, it was all Chelsea in the half. A long ball from David Luiz found Fernando Torres who helped it on for Juan Mata and the Spaniard found the back of the net, only to see it ruled out for offside. Chelsea went down the pitch again and it was a Cole cross that was missed by Mata, but it fell perfectly for Eden Hazard who fired straight to Lloris. However, Chelsea's hard work finally paid off when Juan Mata's costless-kick delivery found John Terry who headed home comfortably from 6 yards out. Chelsea were level and the match had turned on its hard even more. Chelsea threw everything they had at Spurs and it looked like Andre Schuerrle was going to put them in front as he was found brilliantly by a Torres through ball. The German latched onto it, but his shot was saved by Lloris who was incredibly quick off his line.
About 5 minutes later, it all turned on its head again. Torres and Vertonghen (who had both been booked) went into a 50-50 challenge and they both clattered into one another. Both visibly shaken and scared of a potential sending off, Mike Dean waited a minute or so to make his decision. It was the Spaniard who saw red for "leading with his hands". This totally killed Chelsea's momentum and it was a very controversial decision. Most agreeing it wasn't a red. Spurs then took the intiative and attacked for the next 10 minutes, but couldn't find their way to a goal. Jermain Defoe went close twice as did Sigurdsson, it just wasn't meant to be.
So, that's how it finished. 1-1 at White Hart Lane after a tense week for both managers and a tense match for both clubs. Forced to share the spoils, Jose and Villas-Boas acknowledged each other after the match in a lenghty conversation.
