Marc Cucurella did something in a Chelsea shirt last night that hasn’t been done since 2019.
Chelsea recorded a convincing 2-0 win yesterday over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League.
The Blues jumped up to eighth in the league table to within touching distance of seventh-placed Newcastle United and sixth-placed Manchester United, so perhaps a European finish may still be on the cards.
Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson were on the scoresheet for Mauricio Pochettino’s side in the Spurs victory.
Next, Chelsea host West Ham this Sunday in another important league match.
Marc Cucurella shines against Tottenham
Marc Cucurella, who started the Spurs win, had one of his best ever Chelsea performances.
He lined up as the left-back in his team’s starting XI, which was the case when they didn’t have possession. He inverted into a central midfield position to great effect when the Blues had the ball, though.
The Spaniard’s passing was crisp and he looked comfortable in the centre of the park. Plus, he was defensively very strong and combative in the challenge.
We’ve watched him be pretty reckless and sporadic during the first couple of years as a Chelsea player, but maybe Pochettino is slowly finding a tune out of him.
Cucurella matches 2019 record
The statistics back up what looked on the eye test to be a stellar performance from Cucurella at home to Spurs.
Remarkably, the inverted full-back achieved something yesterday that no Chelsea player has done since Mateo Kovacic in 2019.
Sofascore wrote on X: “Marc Cucurella has tonight become the first Chelsea player to win 9+ ground duels in a Premier League match and not lose a single one since 19 October 2019 (Mateo Kovacic, 9/9 v Newcastle).”
Cucurella going 100 per cent for ground duels won against Spurs just highlights how dominant he looked.
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