Joao Pedro ends goal drought as Chelsea win 1-0 at Spurs
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LONDON :Chelsea won 1-0 away at London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Saturday with Brazil striker Joao Pedro claiming the only goal as he got back on the scoresheet for the first time since August.
Enzo Maresca's men, stung by last weekend's home defeat by Sunderland, stifled Spurs and created a string of chances which should have allowed them to win by a bigger margin in a fixture that Chelsea have dominated for years.
The Blues took the lead when Moises Caicedo stole the ball from Micky van de Ven on the edge of the Spurs penalty box and the combative Ecuadorian squared for Joao Pedro who made no mistake from eight metres in the 34th minute.
The Brazilian had chances to add to his goal tally but was thwarted three times by Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario who also denied Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho while his opposite number Robert Sanchez had only one save to make all game.
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Maresca was asked by reporters if he regretted his side not winning by a more emphatic scoreline.
"I am happy with the 1-0, with the three points, especially because we kept the clean sheet," the Italian said.
"I think it is something that we need for the future. We know that we are a team that in the end we are going to score goals but we need to be better defensively."
The home fans vented their frustration at Thomas Frank's side as they failed to mount any real threat and loud boos rang out around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the final whistle.
Frank acknowledged the disappointment.
"We all sensed the frustration and emotions. That's part of football. It’s extremely painful," the Dane said. "I think it’s about trying to stay calm in general. I think Chelsea were good. We definitely were second best. We performed badly."
Chelsea - who have now won six of their last seven games in all competitions - climbed to fourth place in the table on 17 points after 10 games, one rung below Spurs on goal difference.
Spurs have now registered just one win against Chelsea in their last 14 Premier League meetings and the visiting supporters treated their hosts to a chant of "Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again" in the dying moments of the game.
(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Clare Fallon)
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