Chelsea host Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening, dwell on Sky Sports activities, nearly a decade on from the notorious ‘Battle of the Bridge’ encounter.
Tottenham travelled to Stamford Bridge in Might 2016 figuring out they merely needed to win with a view to keep in contact with Leicester Metropolis on the high of the desk and stay within the hunt for a primary top-flight title since 1961.
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Nonetheless, Mauricio Pochettino’s aspect made their journey again throughout the capital with their title hopes up in smoke after what has gone down as one of many dirtiest clashes in Premier League historical past.
So what precisely occurred in southwest London that evening? Why was it such a bad-tempered contest and what was the fallout?
Thursday third April 7:30pm
Kick off 8:00pm
The background
The guests arrived on the Bridge, the place they’d not gained since February 1990, bristling, having thrown away the lead, and two very important factors, of their earlier sport at residence to West Brom.
Their already spiky temper was not improved by numerous interviews given within the lead-up to the match wherein Chelsea gamers stated they had been trying to get one over on their metropolis rivals and assist Leicester win the league.
“For various causes, we arrived at that sport in a really delicate second,” Pochettino would go on to clarify. “We had been very aggressive in all that was taking place. It was a particular second, very particular. Out of context, we are able to say, ‘Why did Tottenham behave like this?’. However with all of the context, in that second, I feel it was regular.”
A cautionary story
Not that you’d have recognized something untoward was about to unfold, although, with the guests racing right into a dominant two-goal lead as half-time approached because of well-taken strikes from Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son.
Till that time, Spurs defenders Kyle Walker and Jan Vertonghen had been the one gamers to have been booked, however all that was about to vary as the sport entered injury-time on the finish of the primary half.
Jan Vertonghen and Diego Costa conflict
It was Danny Rose’s late problem on Willian proper in entrance of the dugouts which was the catalyst for a mass brawl that noticed Mousa Dembele eye-gouge Chelsea striker Diego Costa.
By that time, even Spurs head coach Pochettino had entered the fray after operating on to the pitch to attempt to separate Rose and Willian, one thing the Argentine later admitted was an error of judgement.
Danny Rose and Willian sq. up to one another after a nasty deal with from the Tottenham left-back
“I used to be concerned within the sport and I forgot my ideas,” Pochettino stated after the match. “It was a mistake. I can not go onto the pitch.”
Rose himself was fortunate to not see purple for his deal with on Chelsea’s Brazilian ahead – “The linesman has bottled the choice there, he [Rose] ought to have been despatched off,” was Jamie Carragher’s evaluation on the time on Sky Sports activities – but it surely laid the groundwork for a feisty second half.
Mousa Dembele seems to succeed in in the direction of Diego Costa’s eye throughout a mass brawl involving each groups
The 2 gamers in query had been each cautioned, taking the entire of first-half yellows to 4, with eight extra to come back after half-time – together with in whole a record-breaking 9 for the north London membership – as substitute Eden Hazard impressed the hosts’ fightback to attract 2-2.
‘I allowed them to self-destruct’
Extremely, nevertheless, there have been no purple playing cards issued by referee Mark Clattenburg, regardless of Erik Lamela intentionally treading on Cesc Fabregas’s hand and Eric Dier cleansing out Hazard late on.
“It was theatre,” Clattenburg later recalled. “I went in with a gameplan: that I did not need Tottenham Hotspur blaming Mark Clattenburg that they had been dropping the title. There ought to have been three purple playing cards to Tottenham.
Eric Dier was booked for his foul on Eden Hazard
“I allowed them to self-destruct so all of the media, all of the individuals on the planet went, ‘Tottenham misplaced the title’.
“If I despatched three gamers off from Tottenham, what are the headlines?, ‘Clattenburg value Tottenham the title’. It was pure theatre that Tottenham self-destructed in opposition to Chelsea and Leicester gained the title.”
It was theatre. I went in with a gameplan: that I did not need Tottenham Hotspur blaming Mark Clattenburg that they had been dropping the title. There ought to have been three purple playing cards to Tottenham.
I allowed them to self-destruct so all of the media, all of the individuals on the planet went: Tottenham misplaced the title
Nonetheless, the ultimate whistle – which confirmed the top of Spurs’ title problem – introduced extra ugly altercations as the 2 groups headed down the tunnel, with the guests’ back-up goalkeeper Michel Vorm and Costa going at it, earlier than Vertonghen additionally turned concerned in a heated touchline row.
Even Chelsea’s mild-mannered boss Guus Hiddink discovered himself concerned after being knocked into the dugout space through the melee, though the 69-year-old Dutchman noticed the humorous aspect to it, joking: “Even at my age, I had no downside falling down!”
What they stated…
“It was a London derby we hadn’t misplaced in 26 years,” Chelsea captain John Terry stated at full-time.
“It was all the time going to boil over. A few instances it acquired out of hand however gamers are preventing for factors and titles. It is feelings – that is soccer.”
In the meantime, former top-flight referee Dermot Gallagher thought the conflict was the toughest he had ever seen to officiate within the Premier League period.
Hazard’s aim seven minutes from full-time ended Tottenham’s hopes of successful the title
“I feel that is the hardest sport I’ve seen in 24 years for a referee,” he stated. “That was a tricky, powerful check. The referee realised the stakes, realised the feelings and the whole lot. I feel he is tried to referee the event.
“To finish up with 12 yellow playing cards in a match is admittedly extraordinary. He is tried to face again and let the gamers play the sport and he is on the behest of the gamers then, however the gamers did not purchase into what he wished to do. That is why he got here in actually, actually powerful on the finish.”
What occurred subsequent?
Tempers begin to fray on the touchline
The Soccer Affiliation charged each golf equipment with three breaches of failing to manage their gamers, with Spurs hit with a £225,000 wonderful – on high of a £25,000 penalty for accumulating six bookings within the sport – whereas Chelsea had been fined £375,000 having had extra earlier misdemeanours.
Dembele, who additionally ought to have been despatched off, was subsequently handed a six-match ban for his assault on Costa which spilled into the next marketing campaign.
“It was a really emotional sport and also you react to issues,” he stated three weeks later.
“Now I’ve to be taught from this. My intention was to not do one thing unhealthy to him. It’s not in my character to be so emotional. I am disillusioned concerning the six-game ban, however I do know they wish to give a message. I’ll transfer on. Hopefully we are able to hold the fervour however do it higher. We could be happy with ourselves and take the positives into subsequent season.”
As for Spurs themselves, Pochettino’s crew – who had fought all season lengthy for that elusive first top-flight title in additional than 50 years – would go on to lose their closing two league video games to Southampton and Newcastle and in some way end the season behind arch-rivals Arsenal in third.
