6 November 2006, by Mark Simpson

Chelsea undone by Lennon magic

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Chelsea

The 5th of November is bonfire night in England and there is a saying “Remember, remember the fifth of November”. Well, one set of supporters who will not forget this game in a hurry will be the Tottenham fans who witnessed their side beating Chelsea in the league for the first time in 32 attempts, dating back 16 years to 1990 when a certain Gary Lineker scored the winner for Spurs.

This time it was a superb finish by young England winger Aaron Lennon that stole the spoils.

There was only one change for Chelsea from the midweek drama in the Nou Camp with Paulo Ferreira replacing Boulahrouz at right back. Portuguese compatriots Hilario and Carvalho took their places as regulars in the Chelsea rearguard.

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Tottenham appeared very edgy early on and there were a string of misplaced passes. Robben should have given the champions the lead when sent clear by Ballack but he waited an age to get his shot in allowing Ledley King to get a block in and send the ball out for a corner.

Makelele beauty

The ensuing corner was swung in from Lampard for Terry to head back out of the box and the first player to latch onto the ball and hit a swerving volley goalwards was that goalscoring machine Claude Makelele. Having previously scored one goal in 148 games, that particular goalscoring statistic was doubled when the ball slammed against the back of net for a peach of a goal.

Ballack had a free kick well saved low down by Robinson and Lampard saw a hammer shot tipped over the bar minutes later by the keeper. From the resulting corner Drogba headed home and Chelsea thought they were two up, but the referee had blown for an infringement that nobody on or off the pitch had seen and the goal was ruled out.

Up the other end Ferreira, who was having a torrid time, gave away a foul and received a yellow card. The free kick was swung over from Jenas and a tickle of a nod on from Dawson beat everyone and nestled in the net for the equaliser.

A long ball into the Spurs box saw some Drogba acrobatics and an overhead-come-scissor-kick effort flew just wide of the post with the keeper beaten. The keeper was also beaten up the other end after Ferreira was left for dead as Keane ghosted past him and headed the ball onto the roof of the net.

The second half started with Boulahrouz replacing the disappointing Ferreira, but the first bit of action he was involved in was tumbling to the ground after being bamboozled twice by Keane who made his way to the byline and dragged back his cross.

Lennon instantly controlled at the back post, cut inside and placed the ball past Hilario with consummate ease.

Ghaly should have been sent off after elbowing Essien in the face but Graham Poll felt that it warranted only a yellow card. Yet the red card was flourished not long afterwards in the direction of John Terry for what amounted to a nudge!

A late chance fell to Lampard to salvage a draw for Chelsea but he blasted over and then in the second minute of injury time Robben’s quick feet on the edge of the box opened up a glimmer of a chance. He curled a spinning shot past Robinson and agonisingly saw the ball rebound off the post.

That was it. Tottenham had laid a ghost and the champions found themselves three points behind the leaders Manchester United.

Tottenham:
Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Ghaly, Jenas, Zokora, Lennon, Keane (Defoe 85), Berbatov

Chelsea:
Hilario, Ferreira (Boulahrouz 45) (Kalou 68), Carvalho, Terry, Cole, Makelele (Wright-Phillips 62), Essien, Lampard, Balack, Drogba, Robben

Goals:
[0-1] Makelele, 14
[1-1] Dawson, 24
[2-1] Lennon, 51