DaRick

My observations: 1) We seem to struggle against intense pressing. 2) Matic and Kante were sub-par and did not win the midfield like I expected. This just made Tottenham's pressing more effective. 3) Pedro's snapshot curler gave us a right shot in the arm and demoralised Tottenham. After the second half, we just went after them. 4) Much to my lack of surprise, Costa sucked the Spurs defenders out of shape and gave Moses an easy finish. 5) Terrific management by Conte to rally the side, grab the second and then shut them out completely. My suggestions against City: They are a higher quality side than Tottenham in general and WILL press early. It is therefore important that we win the midfield battle. Being an away game, changing the formation to a slightly more defensive 3-5-2 to shore up the midfield and hitting Man City on the counterattack is probably the way to go. Guardiola is trying to play tiki-taka but Man City's players are not yet all that attuned or accomplished playing that style and it shows, with more misplaced passes and overall sloppier play. If we harass them aggressively enough, we will generate a number of counterattacking opportunities, I'm sure.

The man's done it again. After conceding early we regrouped quite brilliantly and shut them out (although I would gone for the third first, it worked). Great management.

With a knick knack paddy whack give a dog a bone, North Londoners f**k OFF HOME! More thoughtful analysis coming soon.

It does appear to me that Spurs are tiring. F**k the 3-4-2-1, we should just go for the throat during the next half. However, they might go in for a brief, last burst of pressing, so as another poster suggested, we should run them ragged by making them chase the ball across the field.

Ok let's NOT take Pedro off then fellas. I take credit for that jinx.

If Dembele is bossing the midfield, I'd suggest pairing him off with Matic (who is as strong) and bringing on Fabregas and possibly replacing Pedro during the second half. If anyone can occupy Dembele's attention and shove a pass through a tiring side (Spurs do tire at length), it's probably Cesc. That way we'd become a 3-4-1-2.

We should have been up for this game against a weakened Tottenham side. Why so sloppy and passive?

Interesting formation there from Pocchettino. Vertonghen he obviously sees as the defensively-sound attacking fullback whom can challenge Moses with periodic forays forward. He'd better watch out when Moses turns on the afterburners LOL. I can certainly see Vertonghen getting caught up the pitch a lot if he's not careful which will be a big problem when we attack. Dier is obviously there to rile up Costa and try and get him sent off so Wimmer doesn't have to face Costa LOL. No doubt the back four will find Hazard and Pedro difficult, as IMO none of them really have the positional sense to defend as a line to prevent us counterattacking at pace. I expect that Kante and Matic will outmatch Dembele and Wanyama. Waynama is a brute, but he's not the dynamo Kante is. Matic, meanwhile, has the positioning, anticipation and most importantly strength to stop Dembele going on one of his mazy runs through the centre, when he can be so dangerous. Walker is quick enough to speed past Alonso repeatedly, so Cahill had better be on the ball. I'd almost be tempted to swap Azpi and Cahill in this situation, but I can see why Conte didn't. On paper, Kane, Alli, Son and Eriksen are a dangerous front four although mostly off-form or recovering from injury.

Lampard v Gerrard for mine is a tough call. They never really worked that well together because they're quite similar (although Lampard tended to bomb into the box from a further distance). At his absolute peak I'd probably take Gerrard, but Lampard IMO was more consistent.

See that's the thing about Arsenal. Season after season they look as if they could be a genuine title threat at some point but they always end up flattering to deceive.

Well, I'm sure that they'll get at least fourth at the end of the season, so by that definition ol' Arsene is right.

I was just joking buddy.

Of course you did; you're Nigerian.

Who wrote this, a bloody spam bot? It's just a whole bunch of words jumbled together. On topic, the Conte carnival rolls on...

I'm fairly confident of a win because 1) we'll be playing at home, 2) we don't have a midweek fixture and 3) they looked less than convincing against West Ham. Still, this Tottenham side appears to be quite resilient and so we can't be complacent.

Edited For Accuracy. This current Italian side didn't do very well during the 2014 World Cup and they weren't expected to do much during these EURO's.

Classic poacher's goal. Scrappy, but really good anticipation and placement. He's really been tremendous all season.

A scrappy, ugly win with imperfect play from us (should have been at least 2-0) but...another potential banana-peel avoided against a side which has been very difficult to break down. Good thing they aren't that hot offensively. Hoping for a more fluent display v Tottenham.

The breakthrough we needed after some time getting into gear. Let's push on.

In 2014/15 I would say he was still superior to Coutinho, but Coutinho has improved greatly since while Oscar has regressed.

Magical thinking in action. I've suffered from it a few times.

That's what happens when you have no experience: 1) Defending a title 2) Competing in the CL 3) Being scrutinised by vengeful PL opponents

EFA. Zola was an absolute legend. His free kicks were to die for, but technically he was just sublime in general. Hard to believe he was considered a second banana in Italy. It is incredible how Chelsea FC at that time managed to snag someone with his incredible talent. Back then we were just emerging from mid-table obscurity. He deserved to play in a title-winning side but it wasn't to be. A shame.

His lack of pace is a real problem in a back 3. At a team like West Brom he would do well. He may have lost pace but he's still potent in the air and so would still be formidable in a deeper defensive line.

Good to see a Chelsea legend being recognised.