Glitch in Chelsea’s coding costs Alonso while resurgent Spurs are all systems go

Mike Penders was not best equipped to deal with no protection, with rain, wind and a soaking ball against Tottenham. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

There was an odd interlude at Stamford Bridge with 76 minutes gone and the score still 0-0, one of those moments where suddenly your brain seems to be on inside out, like trying to walk the wrong way down an escalator.

Tottenham had a corner on the left-hand side, in a game that had felt to that point like an extended practice session, a refinement of systems, the football equivalent of watching two middle-aged men methodically emptying the dishwasher, adding salt, descaling the hoses, tutting over knives incorrectly slotted, cups in the wrong row.