AVB still doesn’t have his revenge

When Chelsea decided to travel across the road to Tottenham, London was already itching to see Andre Villas Boas show up against his former club. Chelsea clearly looked well prepared on paper, but Tottenham Hotspurs could not be written off so easily. Roberto Di Matteo is enjoying a brilliant start to the season, and consolidating his spot at the top of the table with each passing game. Tottenham, on the other hand, are still finding their feet in the top half. Andre Villas Boas did everything possible to play the enormity of the game down, and even decided to say hello to everyone at the Chelsea dug-out.

Once the match got underway, it looked pretty clear which team was going to dictate terms. Gareth Bale was on leave witnessing the birth of his first child, and may have cut his team’s chances by half. Damien Defoe started upfront for Spurs while Fernando Torres looked the part for the actual title challenge. The likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Juan Mata make the Chelsea midfield look more and more invincible. And that is exactly what they did.

The game started in a fluid bout of punches and jabs, and Chelsea ensured they carried forward their winning form. Ex-Bolton defender, Gary Cahill, quickly connected with a wayward William Gallas header which Brad Friedel had clearly no chance of getting to. The shot did take a deflection on the way to the net, which may have made all the difference.

Gylfi Sigurðsson, AVB’s first signing at Spurs, looked quite the part of a young footballer who hadn’t found his groove, yet. The Icelandic midfielder, apparently a set-piece expert, also tried relieving Kyle Walker of his duties, but to no effect.

The other Spurs player of notice was Jan Vertonghen. The Belgian and ex-Ajax player was initially expected to join Arsenal, given the Thomas Vermaelen connection. But Vertonghen apparently spoke to a certain Dennis Bergkamp, and surprisingly decided to join the white side of London. His tackle on Torres as the striker lumbered towards the goal, was one of maturity and guts.

Post the half time break, the proverbial floodgates opened, and so did Gallas’ unscripted role, starting off with a cracker which brought balance back to the score line. Next came Lennon, with a beautiful ball for Defoe to tuck past a hapless Petr Cech, 55 minutes in to the game. Spurs were leading 2-1, and Andre Villas Boas was screaming his lungs out. Revenge, they say, is best served cold. But the celebration proved a tad too soon. Juan Mata went in to overdrive, latching on to another mishit from Gallas, which found the bottom corner. Next came a slicing release from Hazard, which Mata found the courage to place near post. The game had come alive for the second time in under 25 minutes.

Clint Dempsey was off his game and Adebayor came on but didn’t really make a difference. In the mean time, Di Matteo was replacing Oscar by Daniel Sturridge. Spurs put in the ultra-offensive, but couldn’t hold off another Chelsea goal. Walker was busy letting the ball roll away when Mata pushed him aside and put a low pass in to the box across the face of the goal, letting Sturridge notch one against his name. Surprisingly, from Mata to Cahill, all were AVB’s doing; unfortunately, he found himself standing on the wrong side of the gun.

4-2 to Chelsea at stoppage time and the game was over. A competitive game, mouth-watering every year. But AVB hadn’t found what he came for, neither revenge nor points. His walk back was certainly longer than his walk from the Chelsea to Spurs. Until his homecoming then.