A night to forget for Tottenham as Chelsea continued their great run against us with a deserved victory against a young team that spent much of the match chasing the ball with 10 men.  The players available to Hoddle were reduced even further by the injury to Ledley King picked up in the win at Sunderland. This meant that Taricco, Freund, Campbell, Anderton, Ferdinand, Iversen, Armstrong, Thatcher, King and McEwen were all unavailable for this match against an inform Chelsea team.

Despite the confidence boost of the win against Sunderland and getting in the top half of the table, everyone knew we were up against it as Spurs kicked off on a chilly evening attacking the Park Lane, or more appropriately defending the Paxton. Hoddle opted for a 4-4-2 formation, with Thelwell replacing King at Centre half, Young at left back, Davies left midfield and Korsten starting at right midfield.

The game nearly got off to a great start when a long throw founds its way to Davies in the penalty area, he controlled the ball on his chest and hooked an overhead kick just inches wide of the post with the keeper beaten. Spurs more than held their own in the early exchanges and Doherty seemed to be caught between heading for goal and heading to Rebrov when he out jumped the Chelsea defence for Carr’s cross, but only succeeded in sending his header wide.

Korsten had picked up where he left off against Sunderland and looked ok, without looking brilliant (a vast step up on most of his efforts in our colours) but he reminded us all of his old problems when a suicidal pass out of defence was intercepted by Poyet, who fortunately rushed his shot and hit it well over from just outside the area.

As the game settled into its pattern Chelsea began to emerge on top. Wise and Dalla Bona controlled the midfield against Sherwood and Clemence, who despite his 100% effort was having difficultly finding Spurs players with his passing. There was also a lot of space for Poyet and Le Saux in wide areas, while Spurs had difficulty holding on to the ball let alone doing any constructive with it.

At the back, Young had a good match and Perry was excellent in getting blocks and tackles in, while Thelwell seems to have fully recovered from the shaky performances against Leeds and Derby and looks to be well thought of by Hoddle as he again got the nod over Gardner for King’s Centre back position. These may not be the greatest players to represent Tottenham in these positions, but they all gave their best and nothing more can be asked.

Carr managed to scramble a Chelsea attack away for a corner, but the respite was brief as Hasselbaink got a flick header to Wise’s outswinging corner, and via what looked like a deflection off a Tottenham player, gave Sully no chance, despite a great effort to get a hand on it as the ball flashed into the near post. Even at the time this seemed like the killer blow, as it would be doubly difficult to break down Chelsea as they defended a lead and hit us on the break.

Spurred on by his goal, Hasselbaink had further efforts in the next couple of minutes – one which went just over  and another which was brilliantly tipped over by Sully, although the ref gave a goal kick. Soon after, Perry dived into win the ball from Melchiott on the edge of the area, but crumpled to the ground as soon as he tried to get to his feet. The Physio immediately ordered a stretcher when he got to Perry and it transpired that he will require 10 stitches in a cut to his knee, and he was replaced by Gardner, who seems fated to be given chances to impress Hoddle despite being overlooked for the starting line-up. Sully was again at his best to top over a fiercely hit shot from Le Saux soon after.

While things did not look too bright for Tottenham, they were only one down and with half time approaching always had a chance to nick an equalizer in a second half after a tactical rethink at half time. All of this hope was destroyed when Korsten, who had only just been switched to the left wing, was late tackling Melchiott. Not a malicious or bad challenge, just a late one, but the ref did not see it like that and immediately reached for his pocket. Korsten had been correctly booked for a bad tackle on Dalla Bona earlier in the match and stood in amazement as the ref raised the red card just below us on halfway line on the Shelfside touchline.

This was a mad decision, especially considering some of the other stuff the ref let go from both sides later in the match, notably when Zola held back and eventually wrestled Carr to the ground as the Tottenham man tried to set up a counter attack. The decision cost Tottenham any chance of getting back in the match, especially the way Chelsea expertly manoeuvred the ball around to utilize the extra man advantage. In all this, Korsten should have known better not to dive in knowing that he had already been booked and his career at Tottenham will hopefully be ended with a summer move somewhere else.

Halftime offered no cheer, and it was very much about keeping the score respectable with thoughts of the 6-1 in Dec 1997 not far away.

Spurs failed to pose much of a goal threat apart from sporadic attacks and at no stage produced a period of concerted pressure that worried Chelsea. The crowd got strongly behind the side from the start of the second half, but the noise was beginning to fade when a long period of Chelsea possession set Le Saux free down their left to whip over a cross that evaded the first man, but was slid home on the half volley by Poyet in the middle of the goal. Any lingering hopes of a point were certainly gone now, and it really was about damage limitation.

Sully, who been called into action to save another long shot from Poyet before the goal had to race from his goal to challenge Hasselbaink, who’d raced onto a weak back pass from the otherwise impressive Gardner. Sully’s two previous sendings off this season flashed into my mind, but Hasselbaink who was first to the ball gingerly toe poked it wide of the goal and the potential disaster of a Sully sending off was avoided.

Rebrov, who was a bit subdued for much of the evening after a couple of bad fouls on him, turned smartly to have a shot well saved by Cudicini from 20 yards and then hit the upper tier of the Paxton, Freund Style when presented with a great opportunity on the left hand edge of the area.

Hasselbaink tested Sully with a couple of efforts, but when through on goal managed to emulate Rebrov’s earlier effort by also putting his shot in the upper tier. 2-0 was n’t so bad considering the circumstances, but we were not even allowed that minor relief as into stoppage time Hasselbaink made his first pass of the evening to release Gudjohnsen through the middle and Sully had no chance preventing Chelsea equalling our biggest defeat of the season.

In the end, I was glad it was all over – it was no fun watching such an under strength team with 10 men play valiantly but be outclassed by Chelsea, although Arsenal’s late defeat in Valencia was some consolation. Hoddle has a lot of work to do over the summer, but this is only the beginning.

Sullivan (8/10) – Another excellent display by the best keeper in the premiership

Carr (6/10) – An ok game, but not able to shine

Perry (6/10) – Played well at the heart of the defence before being injured

Thelwell (6/10) – A competent game at the back but always up against it with the Chelsea attack

Young (7/10) – Another good match for Young who’s displays must be impressing Hoddle

Korsten (5/10) – Played ok, but stupidly got sent off losing us any chance in the match

Sherwood (5/10) – Tried to lift the team in the second half, but his vision is let down by his ability

Clemence (5/10) – Not one of his better games, but gave 100% even when things were not going well.

Davies (5/10) – Tried hard and did some good things, but needs to do more to be a first team regular. Still promising.

Rebrov (5/10) – Wasted our best chances and generally looked a bit below par (reportedly played with an injury)

Doherty (6/10) – Tried hard but nothing came off and failed to link up with Rebrov

Sub: Gardner (6/10) – Looks worthy of a start and continues to show promise

Sub: Piercy (-/10) – Does not look up to this level, but gave 100%

Sub: Etherington (-/10) – Don’t think he touched the ball