Tottenham Hotspur's unbeaten run in the Premier League extended to a club-record 13 games this afternoon as they played out a 0-0 draw with Chelsea at White Hart Lane.
Clear-cut chances were few and far between throughout the course of the match, with Son Heung-min squandering the two best created by Spurs.
Chelsea's best openings both fell to Eden Hazard, but the Belgian was unable to break his duck for the season as the match ended goalless.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at whether either side deserved to emerge victorious from the London derby.
Match statistics
TOTTENHAM
Shots: 8
On target: 4
Possession: 57%
Corners: 4
Fouls: 14
CHELSEA
Shots: 5
On target: 1
Possession: 43%
Corners: 4
Fouls: 9
Was the result fair?
It is hard to say that any side did enough to win this match today. The stats may suggest that Tottenham deserved the victory, and if either side looking like winning then it was the hosts, but a draw is certainly the fairest result. Spurs were the dominant team in terms of possession, passes and chances created over the course of the 90 minutes, but when it came to clear-cut chances it was pretty even between the two teams.
There is no doubt that Asmir Begovic was the busier keeper, being forced to deny Son on a couple of occasions as well as Harry Kane and Mousa Dembele from outside the box, but the hosts can only really point to two openings that they probably should have scored. Chelsea are the same, with Hazard sending a header over the crossbar in the first half and seeing a volley saved by Hugo Lloris in the second. That latter effort was the visitors' first and only shot on target, and it didn't arrive until the 68th minute.
Chelsea can hardly argue that they deserve more from this game, then, and they will probably be the happier of the two teams at coming away with a point. Spurs won't be too downbeat about getting a share of the spoils either, though, as it was an even encounter for the most part. Neither side looked willing to take any risks in order to win the match in the second half, which suggests that both managers were content with the draw.
Tottenham's performance
Many would have had Spurs as the favourites going into this match, which is not a position that they are used to being in against Chelsea. The major question mark was over how much a 5,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan just three days ago would have taken out of them, but despite that Mauricio Pochettino only made three changes to his starting XI. The performance was perhaps a bit more leggy than we have seen in recent weeks, particularly as the game wore on, but they were still more than a match for Chelsea.
If either side deserved to be leading at the break then it was Spurs. They were marginally the better side in the opening 45 minutes and certainly looked most like scoring, with three of their four shots on target arriving before the interval. Son's header was the best of the lot, and it proved to be the clearest opening the hosts would get all game as they lost their way a little in the second half. As ever, there was plenty of work put in by the team, but they couldn't get much joy against the Chelsea defence.
Indeed, it was the defences who were on top at both ends of the field, with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen doing a good job of limiting Chelsea's openings too. They were rarely seriously troubled by the visitors' front four despite the unorthodox and surprise manner in which Jose Mourinho set his team up, with Lloris only being forced into one save, albeit a very good one. Spurs may be a touch disappointed to miss out on the chance to climb into the top four, but a draw is not the worst result and it keeps their unbeaten run intact.
Chelsea's performance
Chelsea have shown signs of recovery in the last couple of weeks, but Mourinho's team selection suggested that he was still not happy with how his side were performing. Diego Costa was dropped to the bench and stayed there throughout the match, with Hazard playing as a false nine and Pedro, Oscar and Willian providing the trio behind him. The stats and the fact that they were unable to score may suggest otherwise, but it was a tactic that looked like it could work.
That front four looked sharp, and if the purpose was to get the best out of Hazard then Mourinho will have been pleased to see the Belgian have one of his better games this season. He almost opened the scoring just over 20 minutes from time with a brilliant first-time volley, only to be denied by a equally impressive save. At the same time, though, Hazard did squander a headed chance in the first half that looked made for Costa, and Chelsea looked at times as though they lacked a target man.
The fact that they only had that one shot on target, in the 68th minute, shows that they didn't do enough to warrant anything more than a point from this game, but despite it being two more points dropped in an already uphill battle for the top four, Mourinho will be relatively happy. Perhaps the biggest positive to take from the game was that the defence looked more like their old selves to keep Tottenham's in-form attackers quiet, and despite the absence of John Terry through injury, they were able to keep a third consecutive clean sheet for the first time this season.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Mousa Dembele: There weren't many standout individual performances this afternoon, but Dembele was one of those able to continue his recent fine form. The Belgian was a towering presence in midfield, making a difference at both ends of the pitch.
Biggest gaffe
There were a few occasions in which Lloris and his defenders seemed to have a breakdown in communication today. One such incident occurred when a long ball forward caught the wind and bounced just outside the area, forcing Vertonghen to clear at the last second after Lloris had refused to come off his line.
Referee performance
Michael Oliver had a fairly straightforward game today, despite it being a London derby. There were no major decisions to make, and each of the six yellow cards he dished out were understandable.
What next?
Tottenham: Tottenham's run of London derbies comes to an end next Saturday as they face West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.
Chelsea: Chelsea, meanwhile, host Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge in the evening kickoff next Saturday.
Barney Corkhill
