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Adam’s goal – having brilliantly saved a penalty just seconds earlier, Gomes makes recklessly challenges Taylor-Fletcher in the box, and Adam converts this time.

Adam, who has just saved his penalty brilliantly turned around the post by Gomes, quickly trots off to take the corner, and Spurs are caught out a little, and do not mark properly.

The corner is played to the near post, and Gomes meets it with a punch.

Gomes, presumably still buzzing from his fine save, chases after the ball, and tries to claim it a second time.

He has it in his hands, but it escapes as he clatters into Rose and Baptiste.

He goes after it again, but Gary Taylor-Fletcher nicks it past him.

Gomes makes a desperate attempt to get to the ball…

…and does make contact with Taylor-Fletcher. The contact is probably not enough to send him sprawling to the floor, but it’s certainly there.

Adam and Campbell argued on the halfway line over who was going to take the second penalty, but Adam eventually steps up, and powers the ball into the corner, with Gomes diving the wrong way.

I can’t help but feel that Gomes’ exhilaration in saving the first penalty caused him to chase after the ball here. He seemed to be buzzing after making the stop, and had a sudden rush of confidence which meant that he felt that he could get to the ball. He should have claimed the loose ball second time around but, having spilled it, he should have backed off and let the defenders close Taylor-Fletcher out.

Some general points on the game:

• I thought that both penalties were legitimate – Dawson got a slight nudge for the first, but nothing substantial.
• Aside from the penalty that he conceded, Gomes had a really positive game, making fine saves from Campbell and Adam, and then obviously his penalty save. This has been the problem with Gomes this season – we are often left saying  “except for x, …”.
• Adam’s tackle on Bale was dangerous but, in my opinion, not intentionally malicious. The “downward” tackle generally looks bad but I would say that Adam is trying to plant his foot to allow himself to muscle Bale off the ball. However, the recklessness of the movement could easily have earned him a red card, and I could see him being retrospectively punished.
• Spurs underperformed (yet again) and were generally very poor in the penalty area. Both strikers had a poor first half and, other than his fine finish, Defoe was largely anonymous in the second.
• The team selection, with Lennon again on the bench, left us lop-sided for long periods. 
• Sandro and Modric continued to work well together, and were our best players throughout the match. This pairing is looking better and better, and bodes well for next season (if we can hang on to them both).
• Danny Rose had an impressive game in an unfamiliar left back role. I said before the game that I felt that it was a huge risk playing him at left back, and that it was actually unfair of Redknapp to play him there. In hindsight I was totally wrong and, aside from a few positional issues, he put in a fine performance (and should keep his place if Assou-Ekotto is still unavailable on Tuesday).

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No need to spend too long on these, is there?!

Lampard’s goal.

There are 44 minutes on the clock, Spurs are 1-0 up, and Chelsea have possession on the right of their midfield through Mikel.

Van der Vaart works hard to stop crosses coming in – first from Mikel and then from Drogba.

He pressures Drogba, but Drogba is able to step away from him, and he has Lampard as an option, just outside the centre circle.

Lampard receives the ball, as Sandro comes across to press the ball.

With no Spurs player close enough to stop the shot coming in, Lampard has a strike from distance.

It’s straight down Gomes’ throat but bounces just in front of him and goes through his hands and legs.

In making a desperate lunge to retrieve the ball, Gomes stops it just as it’s about to go over the line. This shot shows just how far away the linesman is – his flag is easy to make-out.

There is part of the ball clearly on the line and so, of course, the goal should not be given.

A terrible, fundamental error from Gomes, but one that he retrieved.

Kalou’s goal.

Terry pushes forward from defence as Chelsea’s pressure is starting to mount.

Terry finds Anelka, who suddenly comes alive and accelerates forward.

Anelka lays off to Lampard, and then makes a run to receive the return ball.

Lampard chips into Anelka’s pass, but it is not easy to control. It’s important to note that both Gallas and Dawson have stepped out at this point – they should not both be doing so here.

I think Anelka tries to cushion the ball down for himself, but it falls nicely for Drogba.

Kaboul comes across to challenge Drogba, but fails to make a proper challenge – Drogba fools him into thinking that he’s going to shoot, and instead cuts inside on to his left foot. Poor defending from Kaboul.

Drogba eventually gets a shot away, and Dawson throws himself at the ball.

The shot is mis-hit, but falls absolutely perfectly for Kalou to stab home from inside the 6-yard box.

As Drogba took his shot, Kalou had strayed beyond our defensive line, and the flag should have been raised.

Another advert for goal-line technology, as 1-0 to Spurs at half-time would have made for a very interesting second half. That is not to say that every decision went against us – Chelsea should have had a penalty for Kaboul’s lunge in the second half. 1-1 would probably have been a fair result despite the under-performances of a number of our players; 2-1 was cruel, but pretty much sums up how our last couple of months have gone.

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Odemwingie’s goal – Assou-Ekotto’s injury allows Odemwingie time to get a shot away after an excellent cross-field pass from Vela

Carlos Vela has the ball on West Brom’s left, and William Gallas has pulled over to cover for Kaboul. The gap between our centre backs is already ominous…

Gallas backs off as Vela spots Odemwingie’s run.

It is a fantastic ball and, although Odemwingie’s first touch takes him a little wide, he has time as Assou-Ekotto has been caught up field.

Assou-Ekotto makes a great effort to get back at him but…

…in going shoulder to shoulder, he collapses, having seemingly pulled a hamstring. Odemwingie touches the ball around him as Dawson closes.

Dawson throws himself at the ball, but Odemwingie gets his shot away, and buries it beyond Gomes in the far corner.

Cox’s goal – Wonderful curled finish as Gallas stands off.

It’s 2-1 with 80 minutes on the clock. West Brom have possession high up the pitch, with Shorey on the ball.

Shorey passes back to Brunt under pressure from Kaboul, who is pressing hard to try to force them back.

Brunt feeds the ball into Cox, who makes a run off Gallas.  

Gallas snaps at his heels, and forces Cox to play back out to Shorey. 

As Kaboul is chasing shadows, Shorey zips a pass into Cox’s feet – he has stayed in his deeper position, but Gallas has dropped back to keep the defensive line.

Cox takes a touch and turns in one motion, and as Gallas backs off, he shimmies to make a yard. Notice how many Spurs defenders are in the shot, but also how many of them are not behind the ball. At this stage of the game we should have two banks of four, and should also be making it much more difficult for West Brom to get a shot away.

Cox takes one more touch to shift the ball slightly more to his right before letting fly.

It’s an exquisite finish – right into the top corner.

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What a breathless game! Spurs conceded another sloppy goal inside the first five minutes to leave a real uphill struggle, but this time we immediately hit back. We then showed genuine spirit when coming back from 3-1, and could even have won it when, first, Modric could only side-foot straight at the goalkeeper, and then Crouch couldn’t direct his header downwards.

The first goal, in many ways, illustrated the key tactical discussions leading into the match.

1. 4-3-3 vs 4-4-2. Many fans called for Redknapp to bring in Sandro and match up to Arsenal’s formation. The problem with this is three-fold – firstly, this is not a formation that many of our players are particularly accustomed to. Secondly, it relies on having two wingers who are happy to play very high up the pitch (i.e. we would probably have to leave van der Vaart out). Thirdly, “matching up” often leads to the better side winning unless the team doing most of the defending can stay switched on, as per Liverpool in the second half on Sunday after they had moved to a 4-3-3. In my opinion the difference would have been the strikers – Crouch, potentially isolated and, as we know, largely immobile left struggling for scraps, whilst van Persie is an expert ‘false 9’ nowadays, who shows great versatility in fulfilling all striking roles. I would argue that, on the balance of play across the match, Redknapp was proven right to play to our strengths (and Arsenal’s weaknesses), but Walcott’s goal almost certainly came about due to the extra man in midfield.
2. How to defend against Arsenal – i.e. aim to defend deep, and don’t risk the high line. Blackpool discovered this to their peril a couple of weeks ago, playing a ridiculous high line, and giving up chance after chance as a result. In the move for the first goal, we attempt to play offside – in playing offside, it is absolutely essential that there is pressure on the ball, otherwise you may as well not be there. Let’s see how this unfolds, bearing all of these points in mind…

Walcott’s goal.

Huddlestone has possession in the middle of the pitch, but his touch is heavy, and the ball gets away from him.

He lunges into a tackle, but Diaby is strong, and holds on to the ball.

Able to shield it, Diaby plays to Song; he cleverly plays first time to Fabregas, who is stood beyond our entire midfield.

As the pass is made, Walcott is immediately aware of the advantage that Arsenal could develop.

Gallas make a split-second decision, but it’s a poor one in my opinion. He rushes out from centre back, to close Fabregas. The only benefit of committing himself this high up the pitch is if he can get close enough to 1. make a tackle, or 2. stop Fabregas from making a pass. He doesn’t do either – Fabregas can still find either van Persie or Walcott. Dawson knows that he has a problem with Walcott, as he is clearly much slower. This all happens quickly (Arsenal are the masters of the quick counter), but Assou-Ekotto has not read the situation, and has not come round to cover.

Fabregas weights the pass to Walcott perfectly. Gallas is out of the game, Assou-Ekotto is not close enough round on the cover, and Dawson, not backing himself in a race with Walcott, seems to have made a decision to attempt to play him offside (that, or he thinks he can intercept the pass).

This image shows that Assou-Ekotto is clearly playing Walcott onside.

Walcott gets the ball out of his feet, and nobody is going to catch him.

Gomes comes off his line to narrow the angle, but it’s an excellent finish into the corner.

As I say, the move unfolded quickly, but there are several things to note. Firstly, Fabregas is in “the hole” with no Spurs player close to him, and the Arsenal players know to get the ball to him as quickly as possible. This illustrates the flaw in not matching up to Arsenal (although we saw the benefits with two of our goals). After Gallas makes a reckless decision to close him down, we have little option but to play offside. Unfortunately, our remaining defenders were not on the same page. This either tells me that they have switched off, or have not been drilled enough.

It is worth noting, of course, that one of the big decisions of the game was the incorrect van Persie offside call – this was not the only example of a poor defensive line.

Nasri’s goal.

Arsenal have possession in a wide area, but van der Vaart takes up a decent defensive position, and we are well set-up to defend. Notice that Huddlestone has one eye on Diaby.

 Nasri finds Fabregas and makes a run inside. Van der Vaart does the right thing and trots after him.

When Nasri receives the ball back, van der Vaart is quick to close him.

He puts a challenge in, and doesn’t quite get the ball…

…but the referee indicates that he is playing the advantage. Nasri retains possession and looks to use Diaby in order to draw Huddlestone out of the centre.

As Nasri comes further inside van der Vaart just totally stops tracking him and, with Huddlestone having moved towards Diaby, when Nasri gets the ball back, he has a free run at our back four.

Dawson comes out quickly to close down, and Assou-Ekotto covers round.

Nasri gets the shot away, and it takes a nick off Dawson as it goes through his legs. I personally still think that Gomes should be saving this. It’s not far from the middle of the goal, and it is his positioning that is wrong – he has moved too far over to cover the near post, leaving himself short.

A frustrating goal, as van der Vaart really should have tracked his man all the way inside.

Van Persie’s goal.

 

Bale comes across to Sagna but doesn’t stop the ball coming in. Notice Assou-Ekotto with Walcott at this point.

Gallas should be hooking this ball into the stands – a corner, a throw-in, it doesn’t matter. Walcott has now got in ahead of Assou-Ekotto.

Gallas tries to chest the ball down, presumably so that he can clear the ball straight up field.

The chest trap bounces nicely for Walcott, now well ahead of Assou-Ekotto and, under pressure from Gallas, he lifts an excellent cross for over Gomes for van Persie.

Gomes makes a wonderful save from the initial header.

Unfortunately the ball lands nicely for van Persie, who smashes the ball into the top of the net.

Gallas did well in the second half and was clearly suffering from some sort of strain or pull, but his decision-making for two of the three goals was not what it should be.

Interestingly, it looks from the Chalkboards for tackles (below) like we chose to defend much deeper in the second half (perhaps we finally learnt a lesson) and this could explain why we did not concede more goals after the break.

Our team did really well to come back from two goals down, and Redknapp’s use of substitutes was generally good. Although Corluka had an excellent first half (including an exquisite pass for van der Vaart’s first goal), Kaboul added extra attacking thrust in the second half.

A note on our strikers to end

Whilst we found Crouch with some decent diagonals, we did not get close players close enough to him to profit. This, along with his poorly directed headers, meant that he ended up making only one successful pass in and around the box.

 

On the other hand, Pavlyuchenko ended the game with an 86% pass completion. He played the link role well in the first half but, when we started to go more direct in the second, he saw much less of the ball and made just 6 of his 22 passes during the second half (he was substituted on 78 minutes).