Chelsea 3 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur
Blues maintain perfect start
| Scoring Summary | |
| Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur |
| Ashley Cole (32) | |
| Michael Ballack (58) | |
| Didier Drogba (63) | |
| Match Stats | ||
| Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur | |
| Shots (on Goal) | 28(10) | 9(3) |
| Fouls | 8 | 10 |
| Corner Kicks | 11 | 3 |
| Offsides | 2 | 2 |
| Time of Possession | 49% | 51% |
| Yellow Cards | 0 | 2 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| Saves | 3 | 7 |
| Match Information |
| Stadium: Stamford Bridge, England
Attendance: 41,623 Match Time: 16:00 UK Official(s): Howard Webb (Referee) |
| Teams | |
| Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 1 Petr Cech | 23 Carlo Cudicini |
| 26 John Terry | 19 Sebastien Bassong |
| 6 Ricardo Carvalho | 26 Ledley King |
| 5 Michael Essien | 32 Benoit Assou-Ekotto |
| 3 Ashley Cole | 22 Vedran Corluka |
| 17 José Bosingwa | 6 Tom Huddlestone |
| 8 Frank Lampard | 8 Jermaine Jenas |
| 15 Florent Malouda | 12 Wilson Palacios |
| 13 Michael Ballack | 7 Aaron Lennon |
| 11 Didier Drogba | 10 Robbie Keane |
| 39 Nicolas Anelka | 18 Jermain Defoe |
| Substitutes | |
| 35 Juliano Belletti | Peter Crouch 15 |
| 40 Henrique Hilario | David Bentley 5 |
| 21 Salomon Kalou | Niko Kranjcar 21 |
| 12 John Mikel Obi | Alan Hutton 2 |
| 2 Branislav Ivanovic | Gomes 1 |
| 41 Sam Hutchinson | Dos Santos Ramirez Giovani 17 |
| 45 Fabio Borini | Kyle Naughton 16 |
| Substitutions | |
| John
Mikel Obi for Michael
Ballack (63) |
Alan
Hutton for Ledley
King (48) |
| Salomon
Kalou for Didier
Drogba (85) |
Peter
Crouch for Jermain
Defoe (67) |
| Fabio
Borini for Nicolas
Anelka (90) |
Niko
Kranjcar for Sebastien
Bassong (82) |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Sebastien
Bassong (65) | |
| Jermaine
Jenas (90) | |
| · Club Squads: Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur | |
Updated: September 20, 2009, 8:13 AM UK
Chelsea remain top of the Premier League after a 3-0 demolition of London rivals Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.• Ancelotti: We can cope without Drogba
Ashley Cole put the Blues on the way to a comfortable victory with a first-half header and Michael Ballack made it two in the 57th minute.
Didier Drogba finished Spurs off with a third in the 62nd minute to make it six straight wins for the Blues and leave them three points clear of Manchester United at the summit.
To make matters worse for Spurs they lost both Ledley King and Sebastien Bassong through injury to leave Harry Redknapp with a defensive crisis.
There was bad news for Chelsea, too, as Drogba exited seven minutes from time with a calf problem.
Chelsea almost went ahead in the seventh minute when an angled drive from Jose Bosingwa cannoned off the crossbar.
But the Blues had Petr Cech to thank in the 11th minute when Jermain Defoe sprinted clear of the Chelsea defence only to see the Chelsea keeper stick out a leg to deny him.
Tottenham were now enjoying the majority of the possession and Jermaine Jenas was inches wide with a 20-yard drive that had Cech beaten.
It was enough to encourage Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti off his seat and into the technical area.
His presence almost had an immediate effect as Frank Lampard headed just wide from a cross by Nicolas Anelka in the 17th minute.
In the 22nd minute Anelka sent a powerful volley into the side netting after a cross from Florent Malouda had made its way across the six-yard box without attention from the Spurs defenders.
Chelsea felt they should have had a penalty in the 31st minute when Ballack collided with Vedran Corluka but referee Howard Webb rejected their appeals.
But his decision was of little consequence when Chelsea went ahead a minute later.
Drogba turned supplier with a superb cross into the middle of the Spurs penalty area and Cole got in front of Corluka to put a diving header into the net beyond former Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini.
The game had erupted into life at last and it was now a full-blooded derby with tackles flying in from both sides.
Drogba was the target for some rough stuff from the Spurs players as the temperature began to rise.
Chelsea won a free-kick in a central position some 25 yards out when Tom Huddlestone jumped into Ballack two minutes before the interval.
But Drogba hit the free-kick straight at Tottenham's defensive wall.
Chelsea should have gone two in front in the 46th minute but Lampard drove wide after Drogba had found him with a low cross.
In the build-up to Lampard's chance, Spurs defender King sustained a knock that forced his retirement from the action.
Alan Hutton replaced the stricken King with Corluka moving from right-back into the centre of defence alongside Bassong.
Spurs were furious in the 54th minute when Robbie Keane went down under a challenge from Ricardo Carvalho.
Referee Webb rejected Tottenham's appeals but TV replays appeared to show that the Chelsea defender had clipped the Spurs striker's heels.
The debate continued to rage on the pitch with Keane protesting to both Carvalho and Webb that is should have been a spot-kick.
Chelsea made Spurs pay moments later when Ballack made it 2-0.
Drogba's 57th-minute shot was well saved by Cudicini but Lampard followed up to roll the ball back into the six-yard box where Ballack was waiting to poke it home from point-blank range.
Chelsea were at their fluid best with a two-goal cushion and Bosingwa forced Cudicini into another save with a left-foot drive from 20-yards.
Not surprisingly the Blues went three in front in the 62nd minute when Drogba fired home from six yards for his fifth goal of the season.
Cudicini almost gifted Chelsea a fourth in the 73rd minute when he allowed a shot by substitute John Obi Mikel to creep under his body.
But the Italian keeper was alert enough to recover the ball before it could cross the goal line.
It got worse for Spurs when centre-half Bassong fell awkwardly on his shoulder and had to be carried off after lengthy treatment. He was replaced by Niko Kranjcar.
But Chelsea also lost striker Drogba with a calf injury in the 83rd minute which will give coach Ancelotti real cause for concern if he is out for any length of time.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti believes Chelsea can cope without star striker Didier Drogba even if his calf injury sidelines him for a long time.
The Ivory Coast international was carried off in the 83rd minute of Chelsea's 3-0 Barclays Premier League victory over Tottenham.
Drogba had already made and scored one of Chelsea's goals before he had to be substituted.
The victory earned Chelsea a new club record of 11 straight wins, better than the one forged by Jose Mourinho, but Ancelotti was more concerned with the condition of his top striker.
Drogba has now scored five goals and was unplayable against Spurs and while the Italian is hoping the injury is nothing more than cramp, he believes they have enough in reserve to cope without him.
"We don't know precisely what happened,'' said Ancelotti. "It is too early. We will have to wait a few days. We hope it is only cramp. We hope tomorrow we will have a precise diagnosis of the situation. It is a calf injury but he felt that he had cramp. If it is cramp, it is good for us.
"We have played without Didier before. He is a very important player for us, a fantastic player. I think we can play well without Didier. In the last game against Porto we won without Didier and we have Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou, we have Daniel Sturridge and Fabio Borini.
"Borini is a young player and we are pleased he came on for his first game in the Premier League. We have a very good academy and we want to take a young player into the first team. All the players did a very good job. The match was easy in the second half. If you don't do a good job on the pitch against Tottenham you cannot win 3-0.
"We need to maintain the mental attitude and win our next game against QPR in the Carling Cup on Wednesday. Our next game will not be easy. We do not think about records, only wining the next game.''
Ancelotti would not be drawn on Robbie Keane's penalty appeal which was rejected by referee Howard Webb.
"I don't know if Tottenham should have had a penalty, I am not a referee,'' said the Italian. "I do not like to speak about the job of the referee. I prefer to speak about the match. The referee did a good job because there was a lot of respect. There was no problem with his refereeing. I am very happy because we won a difficult game.
"Tottenham are very good opponents and they played very good in the first half. The second half was better for us. We won the ball in our midfield and did a very good counter-attack for the second goal. It was very important to win this game. It was a derby and we played well against a very good team.''
Ancelotti watched Manchester United's 4-3 win over rivals City before Chelsea's game but remains focused purely on his own team.
"I saw Manchester United's game,'' he added. "It was a fantastic game, unbelievable, but in England there are matches of this kind. The fans of Manchester United are very happy, the fans of City not so happy. When one team score in the last minute it means it is a very good team. But I am only interested in Chelsea playing well and winning.''
Harry Redknapp bemoaned Howard Webb's penalty decision and the injuries to Sebastien Bassong and Ledley King.
"It was a nailed on penalty but he (Keane) tried to stay up,'' said Redknapp. "They don't want people diving, but if he felt he dived, why didn't he give him a yellow or a red card? It's either a penalty or a red card. We had a diabolical penalty decision at Old Trafford last season when we were 2-0 up and he gave it. He apologised for that.
"We were much the better team for the first half-hour and gave them all kinds of problems, but Ledley going off was a big turning point. Once we lost Ledley there was no way we could deal with Didier Drogba. In the first half-hour I was delighted and, at half-time, I thought we could win it.
"Then the penalty. If Robbie goes down with the first contact, it's a penalty. He was too honest. If he goes over, it's a penalty. If the referee doesn't feel it's a penalty and it's a dive, he should send him off. It's got to be one or the other, not nothing.
"He apologised after Old Trafford last year. But, given all the talk there's been about diving, he's tried to stay on his feet. I think it plays on people's minds. They're scared that if they go down they're going to get a card. I don't want to see people diving if they've not been touched. I think he lost his balance. He (Carvalho) has caught him and Robbie's tried to stay on his feet. I suppose it was a sending off for Carvalho too.''
King does not train in the week because of a long-standing knee problem and Redknapp added: "I've suddenly lost three of my best centre-halves. Ledley has done his hamstring. He's the most fantastic person and player, and he's so important for us, but if you don't train you can't just go out and play without doing hamstrings, groins or calves.
"Bassong doesn't look too good, either. He got a bang on the head and his eye's all swollen up. It doesn't look too clever at all. I think the doctor has taken him to hospital with concussion. Woodgate's nowhere near playing again. He went to see a specialist again yesterday and he just can't train.
"We haven't got to the bottom of the injury at all, what's causing him discomfort. Dawson has a chance, he's the one. Jonathan had an operation last season and he's come back no better. The penalty decision, Ledley going off, they were the turning points. We defended abysmally for the second goal but we couldn't handle Drogba. I said to Kevin Bond as soon as Ledley went that I knew we couldn't handle him. He'd bully us. He was too strong.''