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Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Oliver Skipp has revealed that they were focused on stopping Chelsea forward Joao Felix during their Premier League clash on Sunday (February 26).
Spurs beat their London rivals 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to cement fourth spot in the standings. Academy graduate Skipp scored his first senior goal for the club in the 46th minute with a sublime strike.
Harry Kane then added another goal in the 82nd minute to seal all three points for the hosts.
It was a fairly comfortable victory for Spurs in a fixture that they don't have a good record in. One of the key factors in this was their ability to stop Chelsea forward Joao Felix, who joined the club on loan from Atletico Madrid in January.
Speaking about Spurs' plans to stop Felix, Skipp told the BBC:
“We knew that Joao Felix would play kind of in between the midfield and the defensive line so we tried to create not much space between the defensive and the midfield line because we have seen in previous games that he was dangerous, if you could turn in the half space. I think the defensive line really helped us with that."
He added:
"Occasionally either Eric or Romero would step out and engage with him, so it allowed me or Pierre to step on to either Enzo or Loftus Cheek. There was different tactical aspects and I think second half we got it much better. First-half maybe we gave them too much respect in terms of the pressing, but second half we used the energy of the crowd more to create that pressure.”
Felix, 23, failed to make much of an impact in the game and was subbed off in the 83rd minute for Mykhaylo Mudryk.
The Portuguese forward has scored one goal in five appearances for Chelsea.
Chelsea's poor form continues across competitions
With their defeat against Tottenham, the Blues have won just two of their previous 15 games in all competitions. They are 10th in the Premier League table, 14 points behind fourth-placed Spurs with a game in hand.
Chelsea were also eliminated from both domestic cup competitions. They lost in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash 1-0 away against Borussia Dortmund.
Pressure is certainly piling on Potter, who took over from Thomas Tuchel in September last year.
While reports suggest that the Chelsea hierarchy will continue to back the Englishman, they will certainly hope for the results to improve soon.
