17/04/2001  Tottenham 0 Chelsea 3

There is a reason that Chelsea fans call Tottenham's ground Three Point Lane. Not even Glenn Hoddle can loosen the stranglehold which his former club hold over his present charges.

It was 1987, the year that Hoddle left the club as a player that Spurs last beat Chelsea at home and it was 24 games ago in 1990 that they last defeated them in any competitive fixture at all.

There was little danger of the record being broken on a night when Tottenham's woes were complete as they lost Chris Perry to injury and Willem Korsten to a 42nd-minute red card for his second bookable offence.

The home crowd were hardly impressed with referee Graham Barber but Chelsea's domination was total as they impressively stepped up their hunt for European qualification.

The Blues went ahead on 28 minutes through Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's 21st goal of the season and never looked back.

They doubled their advantage on 59 minutes with Gustavo Poyet's fourth goal in three games and substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen rounded off the scoring in injury time once Spurs had effectively given up.

Only a series of top-class saves by Spurs keeper Neil Sullivan prevented the scoreline inching closer to the 6-1 rout of 1997. If the Scotsman is on performance-related pay, he is currently earning a fortune.

Chelsea have therefore moved back above Liverpool into fifth place with their fourth consecutive win in a season in which consistency has always been the missing ingredient.

In contrast, Tottenham's season is now over.

Hoddle, who had laid the groundwork for the Chelsea revolution, is learning just how great the challenge ahead of him at White Hart Lane really is.

Spurs, who had won their previous two league games under Hoddle, did threaten early on when Simon Davies sent an overhead kick just past the far post, but they were thereafter over-run in midfield.

It was only a matter of time before Chelsea's misfiring one-touch moves finally clicked and, when they did, Hasselbaink's flick resulted in Dennis Wise forcing Sullivan into his first reaction save.

When Hasselbaink then pressured Stephen Carr into putting the ball behind for a corner, it was the Dutchman who rose at the near post to head home the ensuing set-piece delivery.

That was the spur for Chelsea to really take command and Tottenham were pulled apart in midfield, especially down their right flank due to Poyet's influence, as Hasselbaink sent two drives just off target.

Hoddle's problems increased when Perry was stretchered off and, with Sol Campbell already out, they had to field novice centre-backs Alton Thelwell and Anthony Gardner up against Hasselbaink and Gianfranco Zola.

Chelsea's domination increased as Graeme Le Saux's volley was tipped over, but the pressure told on Korsten as he brought down Mario Melchiot just 10 minutes after fouling Sam dalla Bona.

Referee Barber was certainly strict in applying the letter of the law but the damage was done and despite starting the second half brightly, Tottenham always ran the risk of being caught on the break.

They survived two scares as Sullivan denied Poyet and then Zola, but the keeper was left completely exposed when Poyet was able to tap Le Saux's cross into an empty net.

From then on, Chelsea dominated possession almost totally, with a mix-up between Gardner and Sullivan giving Hasselbaink a clear opening which he squandered.

Sullivan also did well to deny Wise and superbly to parry a drive from substitute Mario Stanic. Hasselbaink also blasted embarrassingly over the bar when clean through.

But it was a familiar tale of six points in the season to Chelsea. And having once been on the winning side of the equation, Hoddle was left to suffer the pain of having crossed the divide.