Juan Mata inspired the win by scoring twice for Chelsea and made a misery day for former manager Andre Villas-Boas at White Hart Lane.
This was the first encounter between Tottenham manager Villas-Boas, after he was fired by Chelsea earlier this year with only nine months in charge. At the same time, Chelsea captain John Terry was not in the team because of a four-match ban for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in last season.
It was Chelsea which opened the score on 17 minutes with an amazing volley by defender Gary Cahill, who received the ball at 10 yards and struck it into top of the net. Spurs keeper Brad Friedel reacted immediately, but failed to block such a powerful shot.
However, Spurs managed to score two goals in 7 minutes from William Gallas and Jermain Defoe at the start of the second half. Galls received a cross from Jan Vertonghen down the left and nodded in with a close-range header at 47 minutes. Soon after that, winger Aaron Lennon ran at the Chelsea defense and fired a shot which landed at Jermain Defoe, who scored with a classic finish - his 200th career goal.
After that, Juan Mata put in an excellent performance by scoring twice in three minutes to help Chelsea regain the lead. The Spaniard first scored with a left-foot strike down the bottom right corner. Then, he received a perfect pass from Eden Hazard that penetrated the Spurs' defense line, and calmly finished the goal when facing Friedel one-on-one.
Villas-Boas introduced Emmanual Adebayor and Jake Livermore for Clint Dempsey and Tom Huddlestone later in the game in order to regain the initiative. It was Chelsea who scored again in the stoppage time, when Mata won possession from his marker Kyle Walker and send in a low cross that was put into the back of the net by substitute Daniel Sturridge at the far post.
After the game, Chelsea remained top of the Premier League with 22 points and a 7 point advantage with one more games played than second-placed Manchester United.
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