The Blues faced plenty of early pressure from the home side, but some resolute defending saw our backline hold firm, and we got the breakthrough just before half-time when Keira Walsh smashed home from inside the penalty area.

Chelsea were just as hungry after the break, and Alyssa Thompson was on hand to put us two goals to the good when she was lively to a rebounded fired in a shot from inside the box.

It was also a special day for Sandy Baltimore as she was introduced as a second-half substitute for her 50th appearance for Chelsea.

This was a much-needed clinical display from Bompastor's Blues, as the head coach presided over a well-organised performance away from home against a lively Tottenham side.

Early danger

Sonia Bompastor made two alterations from the side which faced Manchester City last weekend, bringing in Sjoeke Nusken for Wieke Kaptein and switching Johanna Rytting Kaneryd for Baltimore.

Hannah Hampton had to look lively early on when she was called upon to block a close-range shot from Bethany England with her legs, and Naomi Girma was also alive to the danger when she cleared the loose ball behind for a corner.

Pressure builds

The home side went close once more when Olivia Holdt let fly with a shot from 25 yards out, which thumped onto the crossbar. Chelsea countered Spurs' early pressure when Keira Walsh played a raking pass out to the right-hand side, but the Tottenham defence shut Rytting Kaneryd down inside the box before she could get her shot away.

After putting together a recent run of good results, Tottenham's confidence seemed high, but when they threatened our goal again, our defence held firm. Key blocks from Girma, Veerle Buurman and Nusken inside the penalty area prevented Spurs from opening the scoring as they fired three consecutive shots towards the goal mouth.

The breakthrough

Just as Walsh was the player to break the deadlock in our 1-0 win over Tottenham at Kingsmeadow back in October, the England international put us ahead just before the interval somewhat against the run of play.

Erin Cuthbert's corner was swung in and headed clear by the home side, only for the ball to break loose to an unmarked Walsh in the centre of the penalty area and the midfielder drove her shot home with power to give us the lead.

Doubling the advantage

The second came just after the interval when a pin-point ball from Carpenter on the right picked out Nusken in the box and when her shot was parried by Lize Kop, Thompson was perfectly placed to rifle her follow-up attempt high into the net.

After both sides had made changes, the Blues went close once more as Girma had her close-range effort gratefully gathered by Kop at the near post.

Substitute Baltimore almost marked her 50th appearance in Blue with a goal but couldn't quite get the ball out from under her feet inside the six-yard box, before Spurs fashioned a chance on the break which was hit over the bar by Cathinka Tandberg.

Hampton then made a superb stop in the dying stages of the encounter when she found herself one-on-one with Holdt to preserve the clean sheet, and Rytting Kaneryd had an attempt saved by Kop deep into the five minutes of stoppage time.

This was an important win for Chelsea as we got ourselves back on track in the WSL following a duo of disappointing defeats.

What it means...

Chelsea sit third in the Women's Super League table, one point behind Manchester United in second and nine points behind league leaders Manchester City.

What comes next...

We are in WSL action once again next weekend, as we face Liverpool at Kingsmeadow on Sunday 15 February at 12 noon.

The teams

Chelsea: Hampton, Carpenter, Bright (c) (Sarwie 83), Girma, Buurman, Nusken (Reiten 79), Walsh (Potter h/t), Cuthbert, James (Baltimore 63), Thompson (Kerr 79), Rytting Kaneryd
Unused subs: Peng, Spencer, Shooter
Scorers: Walsh 39 Thompson 49

Tottenham: Kop, Nilden, Gaupset (Nilden 71), England (c) (Tandberg 65), Holdt, Vinberg (Gunning-Williams 65), Hunt, Wijk (Dennis 78), Summanen, Koga, Blakstad (Ahtinen 65)
Unused subs: Heeps, Jackson, Bartrip, Rybrink
Booked: Tandberg 80

Referee: Phoebe Cross