In a defining moment in Chelsea’s charge to retaining their English Premiership title, a wonder strike by William Gallas, deep into stoppage time, sealed Spurs’ fate as the Blues go onwards and upwards after securing a dramatic 2-1 league victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Late Chelsea legend Peter Osgood received a glowing tribute before the start of the match, and with a major transformation to the pitch, the tone was set for the day’s events.
In the second minute, Jermaine Jenas saved Spurs suffering early blues as he cleared off the line Frank Lampard’s deflected cross. Chelsea increased the pressure on nine minutes, when a fine run by Shaun Wright-Phillips was stopped by brave goalkeeping by Paul Robinson, and Michael Essien failed to press home the advantage as he blazed wide of the target.
But five minutes later, Essien made amends for his earlier miss when he drove the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net after Wright-Phillips had capitalised on a mistake by Michael Carrick.
Against the run of play, Tottenham drew level on the stroke of half-time as Carrick’s free kick was headed on by Michael Dawson into the path of Jenas, who hooked his effort over Petr Cech into the centre of the net.
Chelsea picked up the momentum at the start of the second half, and Robinson was kept busy in the Spurs goal, keeping out Gallas’s long-range effort on 56 minutes, and acrobatically tipping over John Terry’s near-post header a minute later.
Chelsea were let off the hook in the 77th minute as Gallas was caught lemon-footed, and with only Cech to beat, Jenas fired his shot at the Chelsea goalkeeper.
On 88 minutes, Didier Drogba’s right-footed shot crashed off the left-hand upright, but despite the lucky escape, there was no reprieve for Tottenham. In a grand finale, Gallas stole the show in the 92nd minute as from long range he curled a right-footed shot into the top left-hand corner of the net, past a helpless Robinson, as his stunning winner from 25 yards out was greeted by rapturous applause from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.
A jubilant Gallas afterwards commented: ”Today it was very difficult for us to win the game because we play against a good team, and after the game against Barcelona, we were very disappointed to lose. I think today, it’s three points which are very important because now we only think about the Premier League.”