In a match between two rigorously drilled systems, Manchester City’s £100m man provided a vital element of maverick flairThere were four minutes to play as Jack Grealish left the pitch. Manchester City were still deep in the boiler room, seeing out a 1-0 lead in a game they had for long periods dominated to a strangulating degree. But there was time still for a round of hand-clasps, back-pats and buttock slaps, the most significant from his replacement Raheem Sterling, who had sat for 85 minutes watching Grealish produce a quiet masterpiece on the flank that had been Sterling’s own private strip of turf for long periods last season.There was nothing from Pep Guardiola, although Grealish did sneak an eager, lingering...
Manager’s half-time introduction of N’Golo Kanté emphasised a vast difference in resources during the Blues’ 3-0 triumphWith 10 minutes to play at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Chelsea 2-0 up and looking like a team just running up and down the scales of their own attacking possibilities, N’Golo Kanté took the ball and surged towards the Spurs defence. By that stage this London derby had descended into a selection of minor human interest storylines. Most obviously: can anyone on this pitch, in either a blue or white shirt, force Timo Werner to score a goal?Kanté did his best, dinking a pass towards that familiar scurrying blond collection of random impulses. What followed was an extraordinary 30 seconds of kung-fu pinball...
He scored goals in abundance for Tottenham and Chelsea and his omission from the England team that won the World Cup was the cruellest of blowsWhen Jimmy Greaves was playing against the team you supported, a sense of foreboding accompanied you through the turnstiles. The pleasurable anticipation of witnessing one of the greatest footballers of his era was severely undermined by the knowledge of the effect that this slender, neat-featured, dark-haired, quick-footed little man was likely to have on the course of the afternoon.Like his great contemporary Denis Law, Greaves was a footballer who could appear to be entirely aloof from the proceedings until the moment, perhaps not long before the final whistle, when he flickered into life and settled...
Two elite, 28-year-old strikers face-off at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday after a decade of changing fortunesPredator versus predator. There will be a strong temptation when Spurs and Chelsea walk out at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon to view the latest instalment of this edgy, at times rather sour London rivalry through the prism of Rom and Harry.It is a natural comparison, a meeting of 28-year-old alpha-dog centre-forwards whose careers have converged without ever quite intersecting, a decade-long dance at one remove. As long ago as 2010 Tottenham were trying to sign the 17-year-old Romelu Lukaku of Anderlecht, already a darling of European football and a player who seemed on a different trajectory from the more homespun Harry...
Crosses went astray and decisions were rushed but manager’s preparation finally yielded 1-0 result thanks to Romelu LukakuAs the half-time whistle edged closer, with openings scarce and Zenit St Petersburg carrying out their containment plan to perfection, an increasingly animated Thomas Tuchel could be seen urging Chelsea to calm down in the final third. There were too many rushed decisions from the European champions, a little too much desperation to force the issue, and Tuchel did not hold in his frustration when he saw Reece James spank a cross into the first white shirt after finding a rare pocket of space on the right flank.“Slow it down,” came the cry from Tuchel, who had spent most of the first half...