Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 Chelsea



Desailly: last minute winner

Tottenham	2-3	Chelsea
Sheringham 66, 90		Hasselbaink 45, 80 Desailly 90
FA Barclaycard Premiership

A last minute Marcel Desailly strike gave Chelsea a controversial victory at White Hart Lane and increased Spurs' desperate record againt the Blues to 25 games without a win.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had twice put the visitors in front, only for Teddy Sheringham to equalise on both occasions - on the second occasion in the final minute.

But after Frank Lampard had been sent-off in stoppage time as tempers frayed, Desailly struck to earn Chelsea victory and lift them to sixth in the Premiership.

As is the norm in London derbies, the game was incident packed and the final whistle brought with it enough talking points to last a whole season.

Lampard appeared to throw a punch at Chris Perry, Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle accused Hasselbaink of cheating while a number of other players clashed angrily way after the referee had brought an end to this hotly contested clash.

It was an undesirable conclusion to a game that caught fire in first half injury time when Hasselbaink, who had scored in each of his previous two games, gave Chelsea the lead.

Graeme Le Saux had a shot from 20 yards charged down and Lampard was first to react. He picked up the loose ball on the edge of the six-yard box and delivered a delightful cross to the far post for the Dutchman to nod home.

Spurs deserved their equaliser which arrived courtesy of Sheringham two minutes after the break. Perry's long clearance down the right was nodded inside by Les Ferdinand, and played on first time by Simon Davies to Sheringham.

The Spurs skipper's first shot was well saved by Ed de Goey, but the current PFA Footballer of the Year reacted smartly to stroke home the rebound.

Hasselbaink's controversial spot-kick restored Chelsea's lead, only for Ferdinand to pull back a low cross which was swept home by Sheringham with trademark ease.

Controversy seemed inevitable when five minutes of stoppage time was signalled, and the game was not to disappoint. Lampard, who earlier was booked for a late tackle on Davies, went down in the box and was accused of diving by Perry.

The former West Ham midfielder got up and swung at the former Wimbledon man, and after the linesman told the referee he showed him a second yellow card followed by a red.

But there was still time for Desailly to snatch the winner when Emmanuel Petit's corner was flicked on by sub Eidur Gudjohnsen and the Blues skipper nodded home at the far post.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Sheringham (Spurs)
His performance was what we have come to expect from him: classy, controlled and cultured. Did not deserve to be on the losing side

Tottenham: Sullivan, Perry, Bunjevcevic, King, Taricco, Ziege, Freund, Anderton, Davies, Ferdinand, Sheringham.
Subs: Rebrov, Keller, Leonhardsen, Etherington, Thelwell.

Chelsea: de Goey, Melchiot, Desailly, Terry, Le Saux, Gronkjaer, Lampard, Petit, Zenden, Hasselbaink, Zola.
Subs: Bosnich, Morris, Gudjohnsen, Gallas, Jokanovic.

Referee: S Dunn (Bristol)