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Chelsea edge Spurs in Wembley thriller

Cape Town - A late second goal from Marcos Alonso cancelled out Michy Batshuayi's own-goal as Chelsea beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday evening.

Tottenham almost began their Premier League stay at Wembley in nightmare fashion as Cesar Azpilicueta crossed in from the right-hand side to Alvaro Morata who was perfectly placed but somehow headed wide from seven yards out.
 
On the brink of the 20-minute mark, Mousa Dembele fired a solid effort from range that was just inches over the cross-bar.

Just a few minutes later, and Alonso opened the scoring in spectacular fashion as he curled in a beautiful free-kick with his left foot which beat Hugo Lloris to find the top-right corner.

Harry Kane almost levelled the score three minutes before half time as Dele Alli set him up in the box but his shot towards the far corner rattled the post and stayed out. 

Ben Davies then came close as he smashed in a left-footed effort that Courtois parried away, while just two minutes later Eric Dier deflected Jan Vertonghen's cross over the cross bar as Spurs went into half-time a goal down despite being the team with more momentum. 

Spurs picked up where they left off in the second half and Kane came close to creating a goal for his side as he got down the right flank before back-heeling to Christian Eriksen but the midfielder’s effort was deflected out of play.

On the hour mark, Tottenham had a penalty appeal after Azpilicueta looked to have blocked Alli’s ball to Kane with the top of his arm but the referee saw nothing in it. 

Against the run of play, Chelsea made a good break through Willian whose pace saw him go past three defenders before playing Morata in behind, whose shot was deflected wide. 

Chelsea began pressing well and Willian found himself with some space before shooting from 20 yards out towards the bottom corner but only to hit the post.

As the game entered the last 10 minutes, an Eriksen free-kick on the left-hand side of the box saw substitute Michy Batshuayi header the ball into his own net, leaving Wembley to rise in celebration of the equaliser.

But just when it looked as if Spurs were back in the game, a poor piece of goalkeeping saw Alonso slide the ball underneath the Spurs keeper to score his brace and hand Chelsea the lead again. 

Alonso’s two goals were enough for the reigning champions as Tottenham were left to rue their missed opportunities and continue their terrible form playing at Wembley.

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