Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea: Blues hold on to see out nervy derby victory as Joao Pedro ends goal drought | OneFootball

Spurs only managed one shot on target in the match

Joao Pedro struck in the 34th minute to help Chelsea inflict more pain on toothless Tottenham with a dominant 1-0 victory to move up to fourth in the Premier League.

Pedro punished slack home defending to break the deadlock 11 minutes before half-time but he could have walked off with a hat-trick after fine saves throughout by Guglielmo Vicario to deny the Brazilian attacker, who ended a recent 10-game goal drought.

Loud boos greeted full-time as Spurs suffered another home defeat – their third under Frank in seven matches – as fans make their feelings known after another performance which lacked attacking intent in N17.

Tottenham had captain Cristian Romero available again, but he was only on the bench and surprisingly joined by one-time Blues target Xavi Simons.

Xavi was on the pitch within seven minutes, though, as Lucas Bergvall was forced off despite fierce remonstrations with Spurs’ medical staff with concussion.

The disruption halted momentum, but the visitors soon started to dictate with Vicario forced to get down to save from Alejandro Garnacho before two more stoppages occurred.

Vicario firstly required treatment, but was fine to continue before Tottenham centre-back Kevin Danso had two small bottles thrown at him.

When play did resume, Vicario was required to make an ever better save in the 31st minute after Pedro Porro’s intercepted pass went straight to Pedro, who was brilliantly denied by the Spurs goalkeeper.

Three minutes later and the deadlock was broken as Chelsea claimed a deserved opener via Pedro.

It was a catalogue of errors from Tottenham, with Djed Spence and Xavi sloppy on the ball before Micky van de Ven’s decision to try and dribble past Moses Caicedo was misjudged. The midfielder won back possession and teed up Pedro for a simple opener.

Pedro nearly made it 2-0 after 43 minutes, but his half-volley was expertly tipped over by Vicario.

The derby sparked into life when Rodrigo Bentancur’s poor tackle on Reece James only resulted in a yellow card, which infuriated the visitors and they almost conceded deep into first-half stoppage time.

Randal Kolo Muani and Pape Sarr combined to set up Mohammed Kudus, who had a curled effort parried wide by Robert Sanchez.

Tottenham failed to kick on after the restart with Bentancur unable to capitalise from Danso’s long throw before Frank turned to his bench with Romero and Richarlison sent on after an hour.

Chances remained at a premium with cautions more frequent as Xavi and Fernandez were shown yellow cards – the latter for a tackle which grazed the knee of Palhinha.

The visitors should have put the game to bed in the 74th minute when Pedro Neto fashioned a yard of space in the area, but Vicario saved his effort before away captain James curled over.

Frank had rolled the dice for the last time moments earlier in an effort to raise a grand finale, but instead Tottenham wasted two free-kick chances late on and Chelsea should have added a second in stoppage time.

Substitute Jamie Gittens blazed over with the goal at his mercy after a fine pass by Pedro, who was thwarted one final time by the excellent Vicario to ensure it finished 1-0.