Celebrating the renaissance art of Dele’s greatest Tottenham goal… no, not that one | OneFootball

When the sheer horror and despair of 2026 sends you seeking comfort in lovely Dele goals from the good old days, the obvious first port of call will always be his Crystal Palace masterpiece.

It remains a flawless example of the essence of Dele. Of the impish and impudent brilliance that made him, for a short but dazzling period, among the most exciting young footballers on the planet.

There’s a balletic quality as in three touches but one fluid rotational movement controls the ball, flicks it over his head and then sticks it in the bottom corner.

Lovely, soothing, comforting stuff.

But for me it will only ever be good enough for second place. There is another goal. An even better goal in a bigger London derby.

Eight years ago (sob) today, Dele scored twice in a 3-1 Spurs win at Chelsea. Beating Chelsea is not something Spurs generally do a lot of. And especially not at Stamford Bridge.

Dele, though, was a man who could make things possible. Chelsea were among his favourite opponents and all five of his Premier League goals against them for Spurs came in victories. There was another famous brace at White Hart Lane a year before that brought the long unbeaten run of the eventual champions to an end.

The Chelsea of the following season were… not that Chelsea. Antonio Conte was in the process of his destroy and exit – albeit one that would deliver FA Cup success at the end of a season riddled with huffing and acrimony.

They were long out of the title picture by the time Spurs rocked up on Easter weekend. So was everyone else, to be fair, for this was the start of the Premier League’s Guardiola Years. His City side were on their way to a hundred points and over a hundred goals and an eventual title-winning margin of 19 points.

Spurs and Chelsea and the rest were reduced to battling it out for Champions League places. Alvaro Morata headed Chelsea into a 30th-minute lead after some Hugo Lloris flapping, but those who only know what Spurs are like now might be shocked to learn that there was a time when that falling a goal behind didn’t mean they would automatically go on to lose heavily and have to sack another manager.

No, back then Spurs were very capable of bouncing back. And bounce they did. Christian Eriksen bamboozled Willy Caballero with a knuckleball that dipped and fizzed and found its way into the middle of the goal with the keeper reduced to the status of a hologram. Level at the break.

The second half belonged to Dele. His second, points-clinching goal was a scruffy affair – albeit one that still featured his trademark quick feet and quicker thinking to manufacture and exploit a tiny oasis of space and calm in a penalty box of chaos.

But his first goal? Ah, now that was a thing. One of the striking things about that Palace goal is the fluidity of Dele’s movements throughout the mechanics of it, but this goal is really an even better example. Because this one came not from perfectly fluid motion in one spot but combined it with running at full tilt.

His two touches without breaking stride as he ran between Chelsea’s centre-halves to first bring down Eric Dier’s long pass from defence and then clip it past Caballero and in off the post were flawless. Both were vastly more complicated and difficult than Dele made them look.

Like the Palace goal, that apparent ease was deceptive. We know now just how much Dele struggled for his art. But art it was to watch him in those times, and in those moments where nothing else mattered and he turned Premier League matches into his own personal kickabout.

Ah, Spurs fans, do you remember when football could just be fun? Wasn’t it great.

But it doesn’t end there. The artistry of Dele’s goal is one thing, that of the celebration quite another. Just look at it. It’s like a renaissance painting. Dele, mischievous grin on his face like he’s just mugged off a couple of mates in the weekly five-a-side down at Power League, cupping his ear as the Chelsea fans turn every shade of fury in the background.

We can see the various hand gestures with which they congratulate Dele on his goal and celebrate their good fortune at being able to witness such splendour in person, but alas we can only imagine what words of wisdom accompanied them.

It was Tottenham’s first win at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League era. And, since they’d achieved all of their goals in one game, there has been no need for a second.