That's the way to do it: Chelsea 2 Spurs 2

Never during my Chelsea-supporting and sports-loving lifetime had I seen a club so happily confirm the handing over of a title to a rival. Although preferring billionaire-owned Leicester to win the league by a long way, I respected Tottenham's steady progress over the years to reach the top two. Yes, their fans are scum – try wearing your colours on the walk from Seven Sisters to White Hart Lane - but why hold a grudge against their players and manager? But that opinion could not have changed more swiftly when the away side showed their true colours.

Chelsea has been a side that has been much maligned for many decades. Ken Bates was loathed by the media (and many Chelsea fans – but not me) for having the guts to fight for the club. From newspapers not reporting on Chelsea matches to television companies secretly trying to agree deals so that clubs like ours would be locked out of TV revenues, he made sure that we were not left behind.

So it was at matches last night where one wondered whether the bias was there again. Perhaps those generous plaudits in public by senior 'neutral' officials were masking shaking of heads behind closed doors. Would a small club like Leicester who spent as much on their first team as we did solely on Baba Rahman pull in the same interest as Chelsea when playing the likes of Dynamo Kiev, Porto or Hapoel Tel-Aviv? The leniency of refereeing from Clattenburg towards their only title challengers certainly raised eyebrows and caused much ire in the home end.

Tottenham should have been down to ten men well before scoring. A childish kick by England’s (yes… England’s…) Kyle Walker on Pedro was not even flagged by the assistant referee standing right in front of the incident. Even being generous, the booking he received on 27 minutes would have been his second yellow. Chelsea should nevertheless have taken the lead before Tottenham took control. But our offside trap failed yet again this season for Kane to open the scoring and another woeful error by Ivanovic allowed the visitors to extend their lead. Cue a “2-0 in your cup final” and “You’re f*cking sh*t” chorus from the visitors.

It was the introduction of Eden Hazard that changed the match. Oh, how we miss him when he is in this form. He lit up the side and even made Fabregas take the form of an attacking midfielder for the first time in the game. Suddenly, Willian actually looked dangerous and Costa had room to manoeuvre. It was the nutty Spaniard whose intelligent play led to the winning of the corner from which we pulled a goal back.

The match then descended into chaos as the visitors’ indiscipline reflected their lack of experience when under pressure. Disgraceful tackles throughout the match led to nine bookings and twenty fouls just for Pochettino’s side. Alli’s suspension now seems not to have been a one-off. Let’s see if there is more focus on their behaviour as it would be if a bigger and more successful club like Chelsea was involved. Ironically, Costa did not receive a yellow card despite his reaction to having his eye gouged by Dembele during the game.

The denouement. A stunning equaliser from Hazard producing a reaction from the home support not seen for a very, very long time. The awful behaviour of Spurs’ players and the faux superiority of the away support singing songs lacking any awareness of hypocrisy culminated in successfully firing up Chelsea fans to create a joyous celebration during a match that seemed over by half time.

2-2 in Spurs’ Cup Final. Will Leicester City now forgive the Erland Johnsen incident? We shall see… We welcome back Claudio Ranieri with open arms… and let us hope he puts Robert Huth up front.