by WEMBLEY, Sporting Alert — Marcos Alonso scored twice to push Chelsea to a 2-1 victory over Tottenham in the English Premier League at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
Chelsea were bouncing back from last week’s 3-2 home defeat to Burnley, where Cesc Fabregas and Gary Cahill were both sent off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9K52TkRbCo
At Wembley on Sunday, Alonso curled home a free-kick exquisitely into the top corner of Hugo Lloris’ goal from about 30 yards to give Chelsea the lead in the 24th minute.
Substitute Michy Batshuayi handed Tottenham a chance when he headed past his own goalkeeper in the 81st minute to level up the scores.
However, desperate to stay in touch with the early leaders, Chelsea pushed for a winner and managed to bag another goal from the unlikely source of Alonso.
Tottenham gave the ball away and were punished after Alonso picked it up down the left and fired in a very savable effort at Lloris, who let the ball slipped under his body in the 88th minute.
“I want to thank my players. They showed me great desire, great will, great heart. A will to fight,” Chelsea boss Antonio Conte said.
“I saw the fighters. I saw a lot of positive things in not an easy moment with injuries and suspensions – don’t forget that. It’s a fantastic result.”
Sunday’s defeat, in the meantime, saw Tottenham’s 19-game home Premier League unbeaten streak ending.
Spurs, notably, have lost seven of their last nine matches at Wembley, including each of their last four games against Chelsea at this venue.
But manager Mauricio Pochettino refuses to blame Wembley for his side’s defeat.
“It doesn’t affect me. But I understand. We need to talk about it – Wembley is not the reason we lost,” Pochettino said.
“We played very well. It’s not fair to blame Wembley – it’s one of the best places in the world to play football.
“Wembley wasn’t the problem. We played better with the size of the pitch. We need to be more clinical. We created enough opportunities. We will win a lot of games in the future.”
HALF-TIME REPORT
Marcos Alonso scored a stunning free-kick to give Chelsea a 1-0 lead over Tottenham in their English Premier League Super Sunday clash at Wembley Stadium.
WATCH: Tottenham v. Chelsea
Alonso, who took the set-piece ahead of regular taker Willian, curled an inch-perfect free-kick from 30 yards out of the reach of Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to leave Wembley stunned in the 24th minute.
Alvaro Morata missed a point-blank header early on for the Blues, while Tottenham had several chances to pull level after the Chelsea.
Harry Kane blasted an effort on the post and was denied also by Thibaut Courtois.
Christian Eriksen’s free-kick in the 38th minute just went wide after needing just a slight touch.
TEAM NEWS
Earlier, Tottenham made two changes from the side that beat Newcastle United in the season opener last week.
Kieran Trippier and Victor Wanyama return to the starting line up in place of Kyle Walker-Peters, who was the Man of the Match in the 2-0 win over Newcastle last weekend, and Moussa Sissoko.
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, in the meantime, made four adjustments to the team that was beaten 3-2 by Burnley last week.
Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas are both suspended after picking up red cards in Week 1, while Michy Batshuayi also makes way.
Tiémoué Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata were both handed debuts, while Victor Moses also returns and Andreas Christensen gets a start.
CHELSEA TEAM NEWS
CHELSEA TEAM TO PLAY TOTTENHAM: Courtois, Christensen, Rudiger, Luiz, Azpilicueta, Alonso, Moses, Kante, Bakayoko, Willian, Morata. Subs: Caballero, Pedro, Kenedy, Musonda, Batshuayi, Tomori, Scott
TOTTENHAM TEAM NEWS
TOTTENHAM TEAM TO PLAY CHELSEA: Lloris, Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies, Wanyama, Dembele, Dier, Eriksen, Alli, Kane. Subs: Vorm, Son, Janssen, Wimmer, Sissoko, Winks, Walker-Peters.
