Superb Mata fires Chelsea to win

Oct 20 2012

Juan Mata scored twice in two minutes to crush Andre Villas-Boas' hopes of exacting revenge on his former employers Chelsea who claimed a 4-2 win at White Hart Lane.

A comprehensive away win looked on the cards as the Blues dominated a poor Spurs team in the first half, taking the lead through a fine Gary Cahill strike. William Gallas' poor header fell straight in to the path of Cahill, who fired a bullet volley beyond Brad Friedel.

However, the hosts levelled within 65 seconds of the restart when Jan Vertonghen hooked Tom Huddlestone's free-kick across the box and Gallas nodded in from one yard.

Andre Villas-Boas remained calm, but he was soon off his bench punching the air again when Jermain Defoe snuck in between two defenders to clip the ball past Petr Cech from Aaron Lennon's pass.

Spurs threw everything at the visitors, but they could not beat Cech again and Chelsea made them pay with two crucial goals from Mata in two minutes.

First the Spaniard latched on to Gallas' poor clearance to beat Friedel and he then lost the Tottenham defender soon after to latch on to Eden Hazard's pass and make it 3-2.

Only a top save from Friedel prevented the Spaniard completing his hat-trick moments later.

Emmanuel Adebayor came on and made an immediate impact, nodding the ball to Gylfi Sigurdsson, but despite some excellent skill, the Iceland international could only shoot over.

Fernando Torres curled a chance to put the game to bed wide and Adebayor stabbed at a chance when Cech spilled the ball, but the Chelsea stopper smothered the ball.

Daniel Sturridge, a late replacement for Oscar, made the points safe in the 91st minute.