Tottenham faced their first London derby of the season on Sunday, with a trip to Stamford Bridge. It was a game that showed passion and fight and ended in a 2-2 draw, with Spurs coming back from losing positions twice.
After the clash, Antonio Conte was asked if he believed his players were now showing the same passion as he does, every week. "Yeah, but you have to show every time passion because the result can be positive or negative but I think the passion is very important. In every job that people do," he explained.
"You have to love your job, you have to love your work and to show the passion. If the people understand this and the fans see this it's good, it's good. And you can take big achievement if you have big passion in your job."
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The game involved twists and turns and it was far from a perfect performance from the Lilywhites. Spurs had just 34% possession and were dominated in large spells of the match.
However, it was Tottenham's resilience that helped them salvage a point and it has left them fourth in the league, after two games. Conte started with the same team that beat Southampton 4-1, meaning yet again the new arrivals were left out of the starting line-up.
Things needed changing in the second half with Spurs trailing and that was when Yves Bissouma and Ivan Perisic came on, as well as Richarlison, who made his Premier League debut for his new club. This changed the dynamic of the game, put some fresh legs on the pitch and helped Tottenham draw the match.
Perisic was only on the pitch for 10 minutes but produced five crosses, made two key passes and an interception, highlighting his impact down the left flank.
The final goal of the fixture came from Harry Kane in the 96th minute. It was the only shot that the England captain had on target, but he made it count.
In the build-up to the goal, Spurs had a number of corners. With Son Heung-min being replaced by Perisic in the 79th minute, it meant their usual corner taker was no longer on the pitch.
When Tottenham were awarded the first, the Croatian did seem to look around, as if to see who was going to take the corner kick. Perisic was the man to step-up and do so.
His first was a poor attempt, with the ball not getting into the box. However, after that and on both sides, the 33-year-old produced just the corner kicks Spurs needed.
The final one was in the closing moments of the game with Kane nodding it home via a slight flick off Reece James' thigh. During his analysis of the game, Glenn Hoddle opened up on the Spurs corners.
"Son has been the corner taker for Tottenham, right foot, left foot, he takes all the corners. He's not on the pitch," he said, via HITC.
"Perisic comes on, and upped the ante. His quality of corners, left and right, got better. That’s the difference.
"Harry can’t head that ball in without that quality of cross. As a manager you think, yes, we have improved the squad," Hoddle added.
Tottenham appointed Gianni Vio as set piece coach this summer and that, along with new arrivals adding quality, is likely to be what helped the corner success on Sunday. Perisic hasn't started either of Spurs' games this season so far.
However, after the impact he made in those closing moments against Chelsea, it would now seem likely that if he is on the pitch, he will be the man to take the corner kicks and there will hopefully be plenty more success from them this season.
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