We Lost to the Referee !

We lost.....not to Chelsea but to the referee's decision to flash the red card to Mido in the 25th min for a mid-air challenge....if he had got a yellow card and stayed on ....the outcome would have been very different....we were the better side before the red card.

Tottenham 0-2 Chelsea: Luck with the Champions

Chelsea - the self-confessed 'luck champions' last season - enjoyed more good fortune as their confident start to this campaign continued with a 2-0 win at Tottenham.

Up against a resurgent Tottenham side at White Hart Lane, the Blues benefited from striker Mido's dismissal for directing a forearm into Asier del Horno's head after just 24 minutes, swinging a previously tight game their way.

Del Horno then recovered to head their opening goal just before half-time, before Damien Duff's second was as lucky a strike as you can get, with the ball seemingly rebounding into the net off his arm.

Then again, as the golfer Gary Player once observed, 'the harder I work, the luckier I get', and this Chelsea team certainly make their own good fortune with their prodigious workrate and tenacious defending.

Spurs, albeit with 10 men for most of this game, rarely had a sight of goal, while only two excellent saves from Paul Robinson kept the scoreline down in the latter stages as the home side were forced to take risks.

Chelsea have therefore started the campaign with four victories and four clean sheets, representing an improvement even on last season, while their unbeaten league streak against Tottenham still dates back to 1990 - and all that without yet even being close to hitting top gear.
Spurs, who started the afternoon in second place, had created the early running, with Mido shooting wide, Michael Dawson flicking a header just past the upright and Jermain Defoe's snapshot flying straight into Petr Cech's arms.

Then again, the most interesting aspect was still the heavyweight central midfield battle between Edgar Davids and Michael Carrick up against Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Claude Makelele.

Indeed, Essien was fortunate that John Terry's covering presence saved him from a red card on 20 minutes when he tripped Davids on the edge of the penalty area, with the Dutchman bearing down on goal.

However, although Terry then headed a corner wastefully wide, Spurs' fortunes started to nosedive when Mido was dismissed following his clash with del Horno as he led with his forearm into a challenge.

That sparked a pushing match between a host of players as Mido, who seemed to be close to tears, took time to leave the pitch and Terry earned himself a booking.

There was an angry undercurrent entering the game, with referee Styles facing a battle to keep control, as Drogba then clashed with Paul Stalteri near the byline.

From the ensuing corner, Terry rose unchallenged to meet the ball but placed his header just wide of the upright, although it was not long before Chelsea took the lead.

Seven minutes before the interval Lampard delivered an inviting cross for del Horno to power his header past Robinson, against whom he also scored for Spain against England last November in Madrid.

Spurs were now up against it, playing a side with the best defence in the Premiership, and with Defoe left to battle up front on his own.

Although they won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area just before the break, Cech dived full-length to push Carrick's shot around the post before grasping the ensuing corner.

Spurs boss Martin Jol replaced Teemu Tainio with Aaron Lennon at the break and the young winger was immediately involved, firing one shot over the bar and then tripping as he tried to race past Terry on an exciting run.

However, Mourinho had rather more options than Spurs on the bench, with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Hernan Crespo both introduced, and the Argentina striker almost scored just seconds later, only to be denied by Robinson.

Although Chelsea have perfected the 1-0 victory, this time they doubled their lead, albeit rather fortunately when Duff met Wright-Phillips' cross with a mishit effort that bounced into the net, seemingly off his arm.

Robinson denied Crespo again in the final stages, but the result was beyond any doubt. Chelsea's title challenge is looking stronger than ever.

Jol unhappy with red card

Tottenham boss Martin Jol criticised referee Rob Styles' decision to send off striker Mido for a dangerous challenge after Chelsea had taken full advantage of their extra man to beat his side 2-0 and strengthen their Premiership lead.

Mido was almost in tears after being dismissed for an apparent forearm blow on Asier del Horno after just 24 minutes and was still proclaiming his innocence well after the final whistle.

Asked if Styles's decision was correct, Jol insisted: 'No, it wasn't. Mido was too enthusiastic and maybe it was a bit dangerous so you could have given him a yellow card, but instead it was a red card straight away.

'If a striker is coming from the flanks, you try to protect yourself, go in and be brave. In the first minute, John Terry went in with everything he had in the same situation [and nothing happened].

'Mido is still apologising to everyone and saying that he didn't do it with any intent. He has never elbowed anybody.''

But, while Jol believes another referee could have booked Mido but sent off Michael Essien for a professional foul on Edgar Davids that warranted only a yellow card, he will not be appealing to the Football Association.

'No, I don't think so. The explanation was that it was 'dangerous play', not even an elbow. We can't change anything anyway,'' he admitted.

'We did really well in the first 25 minutes and had the feeling we could do something, but the red card killed the game for us. It changed everything.'

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was delighted with his side, who now have four victories and four clean sheets behind them.

'Mido is the right man to say whether it was intentional or whether he wanted to hurt the player or not. It's something personal. Football players do things and then they're always unhappy with what they've done,'' said the Chelsea manager.

'The only thing I know is that there were two very tough challenges. One which led to a red card and the other a bit before with the same two players - Mido and Del Horno. Del Horno was hurt twice.

'Of course people will speak about 11 against 10 but sometimes the 11 players don't win.
'It's easy to do it if you do it properly. We had to play exactly the same and not try to beat them 4-0. It's not hockey, it's football. We played very seriously.

'We didn't attack much but I didn't want to. I just wanted to control the game and wait for the chances. When Martin Jol tried [defender] Michael Dawson at centre-forward, he opened the door for us to score another goal.''