16 Conclusions on a classic between Chelsea and Tottenham

Chelsea showed their best and worst sides. Tottenham, too, really. But the main event between Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte was worth it.

1) Antonio Conte will never get his one regular day of Barclays.

2) Spare a thought for perhaps the only individual who would not have enjoyed those 90 tetchy, pulsating, needle-fuelled minutes: Mark Clattenburg must have hated the long-awaited sequel to the Battle of the Bridge involving a referee who had no “gameplan”. Shame on Anthony Taylor.

3) Does anyone else suddenly really miss Erik Lamela?

4) It is almost (but crucially absolutely not at all) a shame that Conte and Thomas Tuchel’s unexpected blood feud will overshadow the less headline-worthy, eye-catching aspect of their duel. The tactical tête-à-tête between two tremendously talented tacticians, teasing out their touchline tussle, was tremendous.

It was a Tuchel TKO in round one. Chelsea overloaded the midfield, much as they had to great effect in January’s Carabao semi-final, and Tottenham’s counter-attacking threat collapsed in on itself as Heung-min Son and Dejan Kulusevski dropped back to offer support.

Conte responded in kind, rejecting the temptation of a half-time quintuple substitution and instead tweaking his system to mirror Chelsea’s, prompting the first equaliser.

Tuchel realigned his system with a single substitution, replacing Jorginho with Cesar Azpilicueta to provide far more width with Reece James freed to play at wing-back – and score Chelsea’s second.

Conte, creating his own luck, ended the game with Harry Kane, Richarlison, Ivan Perisic, Kulusevski and Lucas Moura on the pitch in the mad pursuit of another leveller. A slightly deflected header from a corner that probably shouldn’t have been is as good as any goal and for once the lack of a definitive winner in a game between two bitter rivals felt like the most satisfying possible conclusion.

5) Hopefully Conte versus Tuchel does at least distract the punditocracy for long enough to avoid any further tedious discussion about referees.

Chelsea had complaints surrounding the concession of both Tottenham goals. A foul from Rodrigo Bentancur on Kai Havertz in the build-up to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s strike went unpunished, as did Cristian Romero’s unsolicited act of sex masochism on Marc Cucurella.

There probably are legitimate points to be made regarding both: the first foul was missed and VAR could not pull play back that far, while Romero’s…