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A pair of pundits were stunned by the performance of a Tottenham forward against Chelsea, with Gary Neville forced to “take back” criticism during the game.
Spurs picked up their second Premier League win in as many games on Saturday. Beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge is a very rare feat for the north London club, but it followed a great first league win of the season against Coventry.
Indeed, Tottenham picked up form with a 3-1 win over the newly-promoted side, before they were the better team against their rivals in the next game.
Pushing for the victory late on, Spurs got a touch of luck when Blues goalkeeper Mike Penders, under pressure from Jan Paul van Hecke as a cross came in, punched into his own goal.
Three minutes before the end of the 90 minutes, Mathys Tel then went on a run from well inside his own half, beating Josh Acheampong for pace as he drove into the Chelsea half, beating Maxence Lacroix and rifling into the bottom corner.
Throughout the game, Tel had been criticised by Neville on commentary, as he’d got himself into good positions but failed to make anything of them.
When his strike beat Penders, the commentator’s surprise was palpable.
“Oh, he’s done it,” Neville said.
He added: “I take everything back.”
Neville’s frustration at Tel has been shared by Tottenham supporters, who have also given the forward his flowers after the solo goal.
Fellow pundit Troy Deeney was also wowed by Tel’s performance against Chelsea.
He picked the Tottenham wide man in his BBC team of the week.
Explaining his decision, Deeney wrote: ‘Tel had a real difficult start to his career at Spurs. I thought for the first time against Chelsea we saw what Spurs saw in him: pace, power, hard work, and then obviously an unbelievable goal to to finish it as well.’
Tel was the best-rated player in the game according to FotMob, with an 8.0.
The Frenchman had the second-most shots in the game, with two, and comfortably the most touches in the opposition box, with 11, and the most dribbles, with four.
He created two chances, and was fouled once. The direct threat of the wide man was clear, and though he’s been frustrating at times for Tottenham, he showed he’s capable of adding the end product.
Fans will love to see more of that from him if he can start to build upon these sorts of performances.