With the ongoing coronavirus outbreak causing a halt to all football, we’re forced back to a time when we all took football at the weekend for granted.

On April 7 2007, Chelsea hosted arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur with both sides desperate for a win.

The Blues went into the match 6 points behind league leaders Manchester United knowing only a win would do.

  • Carvalho stunner only goal

For both teams, the match fell in between crucial European ties.

Chelsea had hosted Valencia at the Bridge just three days earlier in the first-leg of their Champions League Quarter-final clash and we’re travelling to Spain for the return leg just three days later.

Spurs meanwhile had this game sandwiched between the two legs of their UEFA Cup quarter-final against Sevilla.

Because of this, both teams rested a couple of key players.

Chelsea benched Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, whilst Spurs gave top-scorer Dimitar Berbatov a well deserved rest.

The game was largely dominated by the defences, so it was fitting that the Blues’ Portuguese centre-back Ricardo Carvalho scored the only goal of the game. 

And what a goal it was. 

Carvalho picked the ball up just inside the Tottenham half, ran with it and unleashed a low, hard drive from around 30 yards out which beat Paul Robinson in the Spurs net.

That went on to be the winning goal, much to the delight of manager Jose Mourinho.

  • Blues fall short

This was a huge result for Chelsea as it cut the gap at the top to just three points with six games still to play.

Beating Valencia in later in the week to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League made it a great week for Jose Mourinho’s men.

However, the Blues ultimately fell short in both competitions that season, coming runners-up to Manchester United in the league and losing to Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final.

Despite this, Chelsea still had a good season by winning both the League Cup and the Fa Cup to make it five trophies in three seasons for Mourinho.

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