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The Chelsea vs. Tottenham 2-2 draw was significant in that it handed Leicester City the title, but even if that outcome had not come to pass, the game itself was still a classic for the ages. It was a blood-and-thunder, old school derby. It was the kind of game that Manchester United and Liverpool used to produce back when those teams actually had players who cared about the occasion.
Photo: @standardsport | Twitter
We don't see these types of clashes anymore simply because football is not as violent anymore. That's a good thing. Nobody wants players to get injured, and some of the tackles from Tottenham players were jaw-droppingly horrific. Nine players were booked from Tottenham, setting an unwanted Premier League record in the process, and by the end of the game they had completely broken rank. They were lucky to end the game with 11 men.
9 - Tottenham are the first team in Premier League history to have nine players booked in one game. Naughty.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 2, 2016
Chelsea weren't innocent either. They had three players booked--they could have had more--and their constant howls of perceived injustice only caused the situation to become more explosive. Every time a player went down, a swarm of blue surrounded Mark Clattenburg like locusts, and etched in each Chelsea player's face was the unmistakeable expression of a petulant child that just got refused dessert. Just ask Zlatan Ibrahimovic about it.
Yet, underneath the alpha-male bravado and shrieking immaturity was a really good game. Tottenham fought with everything they had, and Chelsea fought for pride, refusing to allow Tottenham the satisfaction of winning on their ground. It was a titanic tussle, with all the drama, controversy and physicality that makes us love football.
BBC's Match of the Day put together a compilation of all the tackles from Chelsea vs Tottenham and it is intense. Something about having them compiled all together makes it that much more impactful.
Don't get us wrong, we love the silky smooth passing of Bayern Munich, or the surgical precision of Barcelona. Sometimes, though, we just need this kind of game. It reminds us that these men are not gods, but are human. It reminds us that every player puts blood, sweat and tears into the game. It reminds us that even as clubs turn into business investments for apathetic owners, the game still has a heart. And, sometimes, we need that.
Follow me on Twitter @J_Hansen_89
