João Pedro ends goal drought as Chelsea earn narrow win at shot-shy Tottenham

The days when Tottenham were capable of ending this fixture with nine men trying to execute a high line against Nicolas Jackson are over, but on current evidence the decision to replace the excesses of Angeball with something more restrained and grown-up has merely invited soul-searching of a different nature. The loud, sustained blast of booing that broke out when the final whistle arrived at the end of this sorry defeat to Chelsea said much about the identity crisis gripping Thomas Frank’s side. Of all the ways to lose a derby this was surely one of the worst ones. It was not that Spurs were bad, more that they were scared to play. There was an unambitious lineup from Frank, who started with six attacking players on the bench, and it led to his team finishing with a staggering expected goals of 0.05 as their losing run against Chelsea trundled into a fifth game. Related: Sean Dyche rages at corner decision for United opener after Forest are held “I would say that hurts massively,” Frank said. “I’ve never been in charge of a team that created that little. Never. I will look into what we can do to make it better.” It was an ugly approach from Frank. Spurs lacked the players to counterattack and Chelsea shrugged at a stream of overhit long balls. Robert Sánchez claimed almost everything. There was no pushing Chelsea around. They matched Spurs’ physicality and restricted them to three shots, only one of which resulted in Sánchez having to make a save. This is not football that will be welcomed by the crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs are supposed to play with panache but this was miserable. Xavi Simons enduring the ignominy of being subbed on and off summed it up for Spurs, whose record of only 13 points from their past 19 home games is the worst of any team to have been in the Premier League throughout that period. The numbers are unflattering. Back to the one about xG: this was Spurs’ worst since records began in the 2012-13 season. The absence of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison should not be hurting this much from a creative sense. Yet for all that Spurs have recorded some impressive results on the road since replacing Ange Postecoglou with Frank, so much so that they began this game in third place, they are horribly short of ideas at home and never looked capable of conjuring an equaliser once Chelsea were in front. One goal was enough for Enzo Maresca’s side to move level on points with their London rivals. It was scored by the excellent João Pedro, ending the forward’s barren run, and there were outstanding performances in midfield from Reece James and Moisés Caicedo. However, Chelsea did not need to be much more than clinical and efficient to claim a restorative win after a period dominated by focus on their poor discipline record and last weekend’s setback against Sunderland. Spurs had nothing to hurt the world champions. It was all so rudimentary from the hosts and the indignities for Frank continued when Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence blanked their manager as he tried to instruct them to stay on the pitch to applaud a mutinous home crowd at full-time. Nothing had worked. Spurs were right to part company with Postecoglou, who took his determination always to have a go to costly extremes, but the jury is out on Frank. Chelsea were unmoved by the Dane’s smothering tactics, which involved a box midfield smothering space, João Palhinha following Enzo Fernández everywhere and Randal Kolo Muani being given little support in attack. Spurs lacked natural width on the left and were forced to adjust their plan when a concussed Lucas Bergvall made way for Simons in the seventh minute. However, Chelsea were never going to be physically overwhelmed when they had James and Caicedo shielding their defence. Chelsea’s moves were slicker, particularly with Alejandro Garnacho repeatedly creating overloads on the left, and their high press was a prominent feature. It disrupted Spurs, who should have conceded when overplaying led to the first clear opening, only for João Pedro to shoot straight at Guglielmo Vicario. It was a tame finish from João Pedro. Was it evidence of a lack of belief? The Brazilian has looked tired in recent weeks and is not training at full speed but he led the line here in robust fashion and offered slippery movement in place of Marc Guiu and the suspended Liam Delap. Spurs failed to heed the warnings. Maresca said Rodri was the only defensive midfielder in the world who could match Caicedo. Spurs could not live with the Ecuador international. Invited to press again, Caicedo won possession once, then muscled on to a soft pass from Simons and dominated a 50-50 with Van de Ven before finding João Pedro, who lifted the ball past Vicario for his first goal since August. Spurs flickered, Mohammed Kudus drawing a plunging save from Sánchez, but they should have been out of it by half-time. Vicario repelled a pile-driver from João Pedro and there was fury from Chelsea when a caution for Rodrigo Bentancur’s wild lunge on James was deemed sufficient. Chelsea had chances to extend their lead during the second half. Spurs made adjustments but they remained blunt and could not even get their deliveries from set pieces right. Chelsea will not have many easier wins this season.