There have only been two Tottenham games in the 2022/23 Premier League season and the rivalry has already shown. Spurs drew 2-2 against Chelsea on Sunday, in a tense game where Harry Kane scored a 96th minute equaliser.
Antonio Conte's side produced a poor performance, but their resilience and fight helped them snatch a point. The dynamic of the game also seemed to change for the better, when the Italian introduced three of his six new signings.
Neither Harry Kane nor Son Heung-min scored in the 4-1 victory against Southampton just a week before the London derby. Whilst the 29-year-old got on the scoresheet on Sunday, the South Korean is struggling to make his usual impact.
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The great thing about Son is that even when he isn't scoring, assisting and making the impact that is expected, he still does add to the game. Against the Saints, the 30-year-old had four shots, made four key passes, three tackles and seven crosses.
Against Chelsea, Son had two shots, three crosses and two clearances. The close marking of the attacker was seen against Ralph Hassenhuttl's side, but keeping the Tottenham trio's threat low, was something Chelsea did very well at Stamford Bridge.
Reece James had a quality game at both ends of the field, starting off in a back three and moving to a wing-back role once Cesar Azpilicueta had been introduced. Thomas Tuchel did get a lot of things right, in terms of the Blues tactics.
The reduced impact Son and Kane were able to make was analysed by Jermaine Jenas on Match of the Day 2, on Sunday night, in a situation where the latter was further forward and the South Korean had dropped deep. "Reece James was given license just to go," he said.
"Whether it's Son or Kane coming deep, you squeeze on him. It left the top man [Kane] isolated and he's got [Kalidou] Koulibaly, Thiago [Silva] and Jorginho in front of him. There's nowhere to get him the ball. Reece James was aggressive in the tackle, getting forward saying 'I'll take that'."
Last season, Kane and Son were scoring and assisting each other almost every game, with both players dropping deep to create for the other where they could. However in the first two games of the season, it seems that opposing sides are starting to mark the attackers even more closely, to prevent them being able to do this.
The England captain scored on Sunday and improved on his performance from the previous week. However Son still seemed to struggle. The South Korean lost control of the ball and was dispossessed a number of times in the first half. Although he did have a decent chance in the second 45 minutes, he was taken off with just over ten minutes to go.
Before he was replaced, Richarlison came on to make his Premier League debut for Spurs and changed the dynamic of the game, which Jenas also pointed out. "He [Richarlison] wants to run forward and just running forward causes doubt in defenders minds," he explained.
"All of a sudden Koulibaly's occupied, Reece James is saying 'I've got my man [Kane] here' and it's creating a bit of space for Son to drop into." Jenas showed that Chelsea had their tactics sorted, to mark Kane and Son, but the introduction of the Brazilian and Spurs' change to a 4-2-4 set-up, threw them off.
After the game Conte admitted that the change in formation needs working on, with the defence becoming sloppy after the change. "If we stayed with three centre backs for sure we wouldn't concede this goal," the Italian admitted.
However, it seemed to have its advantages in attack, with the impact Richarlison had. The 25-year-old was an extra body in the attacking half of the pitch, meaning more players for Chelsea to mark and it meant that there were more gaps for the likes of Son and Kane to run into.
As said above, despite Son's lack of impact in the first two games, he does still add quality to the Tottenham front three. It has also only been two games and after Kane's slow start last season, he went from strength to strength, so there isn't a need to question the 30-year-old.
However, work needs to be done with the whole team on how the attacking trio can get back to their best, creating danger for every opposing side they come up against.
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