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Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 2

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A dramatic finish, at Wembley Stadium saw Chelsea beat Tottenham to claim their first win of the 2017 / 2018 season.

With the events of the previous game, against Burnley, further reducing the players available to him, Antonio Conte sprung a couple of surprises in his starting eleven. Tiemoue Bakayoko was given his debut in midfield and Conte, despite suggesting to the contrary in his pre-match press conference, selected David Luiz in midfield.

Chelsea started the brightest of the two teams and should have taken the lead in the first five minutes when Alvaro Morata, stood between two defenders, headed a cross wide of the post.

But the away side, getting numbers behind the ball looked comfortable and were to take the lead in twenty-fourth minute when, after David Luiz had been fouled just outside the box, Marcos Alonso stepped forward to send the perfect free-kick over the wall and beyond the despairing dive of Hugo Lloris.

Unfortunately, the Chelsea goal seemed to galvanise Tottenham and Chelsea spent the remainder of the half on the back-foot. Tottenham`s best chance of scoring an equaliser came when Harry Kane saw his effort rebound to safety off the base of the post.

The second half saw Chelsea, again, forced on the back-foot and the makeshift defence showed remarkable resilience to keep Tottenham at bay. Chelsea could have doubled the lead when from a rare attacking opportunity Willian saw his shot hit the post and rebound to safety.

As the game entered the last ten minutes, the scene was set for a dramatic finale. Bakayoko was penalised for a foul on Alli and when Eriksen floated in a dangerous looking free-kick, the unfortunate Batshuayi turned it past Courtois into his own net.

It now looked a case of Chelsea hanging on for a draw but Chelsea had other ideas, Batshuayi almost got through but was stopped by an excellent tackle but in playing the ball out Tottenham were guilty of losing possession when David Luiz made an excellent interception, the ball was played out wide and there was the hero of the hour, Marcos Alonso galloping into the area to hit a shot across the goal and underneath the diving Lloris to give Chelsea the victory.

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