As Chelsea prepare to face Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, we look back to when Eden Hazard inspired the Blues to a pair of huge results against our London rivals in the Premier League a decade ago.
When Tottenham came to Stamford Bridge ten years ago they hadn’t taken three points in west London since 1990 – a record which would eventually stretch on until April 2018.
It might seem hard to believe now, given Tottenham’s recent fortunes, but on both occasions when these two sides met in 2016, Chelsea were facing genuine title contenders.
The first came near the end of the 2015/16 campaign, with Mauricio Pochettino leading Spurs’ title challenge and, not for the first time, Guus Hiddink on the Chelsea bench on a temporary basis, following Jose Mourinho’s departure.
The mission for the visitors was clear, after losing ground to Leicester City at the top of the table – win or their title chances would be other. In the Blues’ corner, Hiddink tried to emphasise that this was just another game, worth no more than any other in the league. He was fooling nobody.
Right from the first minute, the game was played at 100mph. It seemed too quick for some of the players to keep up, judging by the lateness of many of the tackles. One early such challenge by Kyle Walker on Pedro drew gasps around the stadium. They would not be the last we heard.
Diego Costa and Jan Vertonghen in particular seemed to be on the verge of tearing each other’s shirts to shreds throughout. It was not hard to see why this game would become known as the Battle of the Bridge.
It was Tottenham who handled that situation best initially, perhaps a consequence of having so much on the line, as Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min gave them a 2-0 lead. However, when Hazard – whose fitness was being managed carefully following a niggling injury – was introduced at half-time, it suddenly became a different game.
Our star winger was a player of composure, not to be intimidated by rough treatment, which was no novelty to him. He received it every week, regardless of occasion or opponent.
When Spurs cracked it was our defenders who did the damage, though. John Terry drew Tottenham’s attention with his run at a corner, allowing Cahill the space to bring the ball down near penalty spot and lash into the back of the net.
With seven minutes left, Hazard decided it was about time to break north London hearts. Shrugging off those attempting to put him under pressure, the Belgian exchanged passes with John Mikel Obi and Diego Costa to travel from the halfway line to the penalty box, before guiding a finish into the top corner.
That made the final score 2-2. Tottenham’s title hopes were dashed, the Foxes were champions of England. You’re welcome Leicester, it really was our pleasure!
By the time Tottenham came back to Stamford Bridge in 2016/17, almost exactly 10 years ago, one of the Leicester players to benefit from that previous result was now lining up against them with Chelsea, after N’Golo Kante had moved to west London in the summer.
When the teams walked out onto the Stamford Bridge pitch, Chelsea had been knocked off the top of the table by Liverpool earlier in the day. Spurs were four points behind in the standings, as the only remaining unbeaten team in the Premier League.
It was the home team who were undoubtedly the form side, though. The Blues were on a run of six wins in a row, all with clean sheets, since Antonio Conte had famously changed to a back three at half-time against Arsenal.
However, there was to be no clean sheet this time. After going 600 minutes without conceding a league goal, Christian Eriksen scored with just 11 minutes played of this game.
That Chelsea team was picking up a momentum that would not be denied, though, and we were level on the brink of half-time. That came via a lovely goal by Pedro, who recently announced his retirement. The move started with clever passing between Kante and the defenders to escape Spurs’ press, then a splitting pass by Nemanja Matic to find Pedro on the edge of the box. The Spaniard spun and curled into the top corner brilliantly.
Not long after the break, we struck again to underline which London side was the genuine title contender for 2016/17. Pedro was heavily involved again, stepping in to join Kante and Matic’s midfield press to win the ball and leave Tottenham exposed. Hazard and Diego Costa combined down the left and, when the rolled a pass across goal, Pedro’s clever run took the Tottenham defenders to the near post, leaving Victor Moses completely free to smash in from close range.
In the space of a few months, both after Tottenham had taken a lead to give them a chance of ending their winless run at the Bridge, Chelsea had twice inflicted damaging results on our capital rivals, with the second also helping to launch us on our way to become runaway league leaders, and eventually Premier League champions.
Two players involved in those games, Hazard and Terry, had an excellent derby record against Spurs throughout their Blues careers. They will both be facing their old enemies at the Bridge again when Chelsea Legends take on Tottenham on 27 March, with tickets on general sale here now.
Before then, it is in the fully competitive derby day atmosphere of the Premier League and Stamford Bridge that Chelsea and Tottenham will lock horns next, when our rivals make the trip across the capital for a 5.30pm kick-off in west London this Saturday.