Chelsea looked set to split the points against Spurs after Batshuayi's own-goal, until Marcos Alonso's stunning late winner. Chelsea looked set to split the points against Spurs after Batshuayi's own-goal, until Marcos Alonso's stunning late winner. The ESPN FC crew discuss Tottenham's run of bad results at Wembley and how they can overcome that this season. Steve Nicol is full of praise for Chelsea after their win at Wembley, but says Tottenham deserved something from the match. ESPN FC's Liam Twomney, Dan Kilpatrick, and Alison Bender check in from Wembley to discuss Chelsea's 2-1 win over Tottenham. Mauricio Pochettino insists the "Wembley effect" is not the reason Tottenham lost to Chelsea.
For the fifth time in six matches since the start of last season, Tottenham Hotspur side failed to win at Wembley, losing 2-1 to Chelsea on Sunday in their first home Premier League game of the season.
For Spurs fans, including the 73,587 there, the match followed a horribly familiar pattern. Mauricio Pochettino's side were the better team for long periods, finishing with 68 percent of the possession and 18 shots to Chelsea's nine, but poor finishing and sloppy mistakes were their undoing, and the visitors scored from their only two shots on target.
Playing well but succumbing to a sucker-punch (or two) has been the story of Spurs at Wembley under Pochettino.
ESPN FC looks back at Spurs' recent results at the national stadium:
Tottenham 1-2 AS Monaco, Sept. 14 2016
Back then, Monaco were seen as the side that had lost 4-1 at White Hart Lane nine months earlier, rather than the team of Bernardo Silva and Kylian Mbappe who would reach the Champions League semifinal nine months later -- and Spurs were expected to win.
In an electric atmosphere for their first Champions League game since 2011, Spurs made a bright start and Son Heung-Min should have scored. But sloppy play gifted Monaco two first-half goals before Toby Alderweireld halved the deficit on the stroke of half-time. The second half onslaught never really came and Spurs lost despite dominating possession and chances -- a theme that would continue at the national stadium.
Tottenham 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen, Nov. 2 2016
Spurs lacked pep, composure and quality in a second successive "home" Champions League defeat -- their worst performance at Wembley under Pochettino. The attendance of 85,512 was the highest Tottenham home crowd, highest gate for an English club's home Champions League game and the highest English "home" attendance, suggesting a lack of support was not to blame for Spurs' Wembley woes.
Kevin Kampl's goal gave Leverkusen only a third away Champions League win in 25 attempts and Spurs never really looked like equalising, although Eric Dier hit the bar late on. In terms of performances at Wembley, this match is an outlier, and it fell bang in the middle of Spurs' worst run of form last season.
Tottenham 3-1 CSKA Moscow, Dec. 7 2016
Ironically the only game Spurs would not have minded losing at Wembley is the only one they have won there under Pochettino. Spurs were a class above the disinterested and disorganised Russian outfit, comfortably booking a consolation place in the Europa League knockouts -- considered something of a poisoned chalice. They fell behind to a 33rd-minute goal, however, and have never kept a clean sheet at the new Wembley in 11 attempts.
Tottenham's loss to Monaco at Wembley last season set the tone for a disappointing Champions League campaign.
Tottenham 2-2 KAA Gent, Feb. 23 2017
A Europa League match against a middling Belgian team was supposed to offer Spurs a chance to build on the result against CSKA. But instead they were the architects of their own downfall at Wembley again.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg but leading through Christian Eriksen's goal, Harry Kane scored at the wrong end before Dele Alli was sent off for a reckless, dangerous lunge. With 10 men, Spurs looked like going through when they capped a superb second-half display with a goal but they were sucker-punched again, conceding a late equaliser as they pushed for the third goal they needed to progress.
Tottenham 2-4 Chelsea, Apr. 22 2017
A wild FA Cup semifinal that defied definition ended with another defeat, despite Spurs dominating possession and chances -- again. Chelsea had five shots on target and scored four of them and the Blues first three goals came at the worst possible times for Spurs, just as they were building momentum.
Before the game, the outcome felt intrinsically linked to Spurs' hopes of overhauling Chelsea in the Premier League title race but brilliant, unstoppable goals from Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic sealed a flattering victory for Chelsea, who went on to win the title before losing the FA Cup final to Arsenal.
Tottenham 1-2 Chelsea, Aug. 20 2017
Spurs went into their first league game at their temporary home as firm favourites, given Chelsea's shambolic opening-day defeat to Burnley and the shortage of options for Antonio Conte.
But the result and performance were achingly familiar for Spurs, who absolutely battered Chelsea either side of half-time but were beaten by Marcos Alonso's goal three minutes from the end, shortly after the hosts had finally found an equaliser.
Dan is ESPN FC's Tottenham correspondent. Follow him on Twitter: @Dan_KP.
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Source: espn.co.uk