Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea as van de Ven and Spence walk past Frank

Tottenham Hotspur lost 1-0 to Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, and the defeat was followed by a tense exchange on the pitch as stand-in captain Micky van de Ven and fullback Djed Spence walked down the tunnel without appearing to acknowledge manager Thomas Frank. Joao Pedro scored the only goal in the 34th minute after Moises Caicedo dispossessed van de Ven and set up the finish, while home fans booed the team off at full time.

Chelsea’s goal came after a turnover on the edge of Tottenham’s box and might have been compounded by further opportunities had Guglielmo Vicario not produced a string of saves. Spurs were subdued in attack, registering just three shots and a single effort on target, and posted an expected goals figure of 0.05, the lowest recorded for a Tottenham match since Opta began tracking xG in 2012-13. The result continued Chelsea’s recent dominance in the fixture and left Tottenham with a run of form that includes only one win in five matches in all competitions.

Video footage from the end of the game showed Frank moving toward van de Ven and Spence as they headed for the tunnel; the two players passed by without making contact. Frank...