Football writer Dan Edwards reports on a majestic performance by Moises Caicedo, creator of Joao Pedro's decisive goal as Chelsea won 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur.
Enzo Maresca said his young Chelsea squad had to “grow up” in midweek after his side received their sixth red card in the space of nine games in their EFL Cup victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
If their dominant display against Tottenham Hotspur is anything to go by, they appear to have taken their manager’s advice on board.
Chelsea defeated Spurs by just a single goal in the end, but their mature and purposeful performance was deserving of a multi-goal victory, and Moises Caicedo, who turns 24 on Sunday, was the star of the show.
Watch: Caicedo was EVERYWHERE against Spurs
Spurs boss Thomas Frank will have been well aware of Chelsea’s strength in the middle of the pitch, with their midfield trio of Caicedo, Reece James and Enzo Fernandez offering a high technical floor and plenty of defensive aggression to boot.
Frank’s solution was to start with Pape Matar Sarr behind the striker and ahead of Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha, with Lucas Bergvall – typically a central midfielder – on the left, and Mohammed Kudus on the right as usual.
His hope will have been that Bergvall’s defensive aptitude would allow him to create a numerical advantage in the middle of the park out of possession to disrupt Chelsea’s build-up, but the young Swede was forced off after just seven minutes due to concussion, and his replacement, Xavi Simons, was not as suited to the task at hand.
We will never know quite how much of a difference this change made to proceedings, but Chelsea capitalised nonetheless, displaying clear authority in the battle for midfield control.
Caicedo dominant
Caicedo was no doubt central to this game within a game, and as a result, the whole match itself.
The Ecuadorian already led all Premier League players for combined tackles and interceptions (49) heading into Matchweek 10, but he made sure to build on that total with another two tackles and four interceptions against Spurs with seven ball recoveries in addition.
“I think he's showing how good he is,” Maresca said in his post-match press conference.
“He's top. We judge him inside the pitch, but I have said many times, the best thing from Moi for sure, is he's so humble, he's such a good guy. He's always there to help everyone.
“For me, in this moment, him and Rodri are the two best defending midfielders in the world.”
Two of Caicedo’s defensive interventions came in one sequence that encapsulated his immense quality, dispossessing both Djed Spence and Micky van de Ven before putting the ball on a plate for Joao Pedro, who smashed home from close range.
The Brazilian had not scored a goal since August against Fulham, and he was so enamoured by Caicedo’s efforts that he offered to take his team-mate out for dinner as a result!
Pressure had been building on Joao Pedro to contribute more goals. His Caicedo-assisted strike ended a 705-minute scoring drought across all competitions, and had it not been for Chelsea’s shortage of options at the top of the pitch, he may have been out of the side.
Maresca has admitted that he does not view the young forward as an out-and-out No 9, and he is perhaps more suited to playing with a striking partner, as he is likely to do in future with Liam Delap, who was suspended for the Spurs game.
The Brazilian had five shots on target in the match, having recorded only three such shots across in his prior 11 games in all competitions this season.
Joao Pedro scored with the easiest of those five attempts, but he missed three opportunities that were defined by Opta as "big chances", and had he been more clinical, the game would have been over inside an hour.
Creative concern for Frank
Spurs are fourth in the Premier League, despite losing to Chelsea for the fifth meeting in a row, but the manner of this performance will be of great concern to head coach Frank.
Their three shots, all of which came from Kudus, added up to an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.05. Since such data became available in 2012/13, that is the club’s lowest xG return in 504 games in the Premier League.
“There’s a lot of things that hurt today,” Frank said after the defeat.
“I think we created very, very little — I don’t think I’ve ever managed a team that’s created that little [in a game] — so that’s part of many, many things and sometimes you can analyse too much. I think we lacked the freshness today, unfortunately.”
His Spurs side have now failed to score in three of their last four games in all competitions, and the suspicion is that they often feel more dangerous from dead-ball situations than they do from open play.
They are missing the natural creativity of the injured James Maddison, and attempts to replace him directly with Morgan Gibbs-White or Eberechi Eze failed in the summer transfer window.
The club instead signed Simons, but the Dutchman has often been used on the left of late, and Frank’s side are therefore still missing a genuine creative presence in the middle of the park.
Admittedly, they entered Matchweek 10 with the joint-highest goal total of any side in the top flight (17), but a look under the hood shows that was unlikely to continue.
They ranked only 13th for xG, with the largest difference between xG and actual goals of any side in the division.
All the more strange is the difference between their results at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium compared to their results on the road.
Spurs would be top of the Premier League table if only away games counted, while they would be 17th if the standings were based on results at home.
“I think we just need to keep working very, very hard on it, no doubt about that,” Frank said, when his team’s poor home form was put to him.
“Clearly we are building something that needs to add a lot of things, sometimes it’s very good but unfortunately today was not good and we are very irritated and frustrated about that.”
What’s next?
Spurs will have to improve quickly if they are to avoid sliding down the table.
They face a much improved Manchester United side in next Saturday’s early kick-off, with a trip to Emirates Stadium to face league leaders and north London rivals Arsenal after the November international break.