Tottenham beat Chelsea, deservedly. Yes, Chelsea had chances and fought hard, but ultimately they were undone by a strong team that are a long way from the Spurs of old and who are still unbeaten at home this season.
White Hart Lane is no longer ‘Three Point Lane’ and they ended Chelsea’s 13-game winning streak, preventing them from recording a Premier League high 14th win on the bounce.
So what does this mean for Chelsea? Nothing. If the Chelsea players and staff want it to mean nothing.
Would it have been nice to set a new consecutive wins record? Yes. Would it have been fun to beat Spurs? Yes. Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? No.
The fans and players alike should celebrate the 13 wins, not sulk about losing the 14.
As Conte said in his press conference following the game:
We are disappointed, but also we must be pleased for our run, as thirteen wins [in a row] in this league is not easy.
He’s right, be disappointed as you are with any defeat, but a 13-game winning streak is a fantastic achievement.
Let Spurs celebrate ending our streak, we can celebrate being top of the table. I think we all know which of the two Spurs fans would prefer to be celebrating. We have a big club mentality, we only celebrate success.
Lots of people will take great pleasure in having a go at Chelsea following this defeat because it’s the only thing they can have a go at Chelsea for.
Chelsea have been the superior team this season, but no team can play their best every week. Beat Peterborough on Sunday and Leicester the following Saturday and these people will soon forget.
Now we have to restart, to continue to work.
This was Conte’s message to his players following the game. He won’t panic. He knows his team have been the best in the league thus far, it will be business as usual for him.
As for the players, they should still be full of confidence, one defeat shouldn’t take that away from them. All good things come to an end, every team suffers a loss now and then. They have plenty of experience in the squad, winners, fighters. They’ll be fired up for the next game, no doubt about that. That’s all they can be and that’s all they need to be.
If Chelsea win the title no one will care about some record they almost set.
To be honest I couldn’t have told you that Arsenal held the record until Chelsea threatened to beat it. If Chelsea had beaten it, it would have been talked about for a while, but after a few seasons, no one would care.
I’d happily trade away the winning streak for the league title, wouldn’t anyone? So let’s keep going, let’s keep winning and let’s lift the trophy at the end of the season.
As Winston Churchill said: ‘History is written by the victors.’ So let’s write some history.
