LONDON: Chelsea were angrily frustrated to concede a 2-2 draw at home to Tottenham amid Stamford Bridge derby ferocity.

Harry Kane headed his 249th goal for Spurs to level just before the final whistle when Thomas Tuchel reacted angrily to Antonio Conte’s offer of a handshake. Both men were shown red cards.

Earlier, goals from new signing Kalidou Koulibaly and Reece James had pushed Chelsea to the brink of victory either side of a controversial strike from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Chelsea had beaten Tottenham four times in the past season and the last occasion on which Spurs had won at Stamford Bridge in the league was February 1990. However Tottenham approached this derby with renewed confidence after their vast improvement in fitness, form and results under Conte.

The Chelsea ‘old boy’ had enjoyed more time to work with his rebuilt squad in pre-season while Tuchel had been still splitting his focus between work on the training ground with advice on transfers for new, novice owner Todd Boehly.

As the teams kicked off so the Blues were still chasing Leicester central defender Wesley Fofana as well as Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Tuchel had been badly served by the old regime in permitting the double departure of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen a year after the sales of Fikayo Tomori, Marc Guehi and Kurt Zouma.

At least the uncertainty surrounding Timo Werner had been resolved.

Chelsea began with eager intent and deservedly took the lead in the 19th minute. Kai Havertz had an angled shot saved by Hugo Lloris for a left-wing corner which was volleyed home by Koulibaly. Boehly grinned broadly as he leaped from his seat to applaud the first home goal of his ownership.

Tottenham reverted to 5-4-1 to try to withstand Chelsea’s attacking surge and reached the first hot-weather drinks break without suffering further damage.

Kane berated his team-mates during the break but without effect. Chelsea continued to control the game with Jorginho and Kai Havertz regularly finding dangerous space. They passed with far greater accuracy and purpose than Tottenham but created only one further chance for Mason Mount before halftime

Conte tried to disrupt Chelsea’s grip on the game 11 minutes into the second half by handing Brazil winger Richarlison his Tottenham debut. The game began to open up with openings being wasted at either end by Chelsea new boy Raheem Sterling and Kane.

Chelsea were furious when Tottenham equalised in the 67th minute.

Havertz claimed in vain that he had been fouled in midfield as Spurs attacked. Jorginho lost possession on the edge of his own penalty area and was punished by Hojbjerg’s equaliser. Both Conte and Tuchel were shown yellow cards after squaring up as they erupted out of their technical areas, the one in delight, the other in anger.

Chelsea needed only 10 minutes to regain lost ground. First Havertz shot wide with only Lloris to beat then Sterling provided the assist for James to score their second goal.

Tottenham then forced three successive corners in stoppage time with Kane heading home the equaliser which sparked the angry finale.

######