Tim Sherwood hailed Moises Caicedo as a ‘diamond’ for Chelsea following their 1-0 win against Tottenham on Thursday.
Enzo Fernandez‘s header in the second half was enough to secure the victory for Enzo Maresca’s side at Stamford Bridge which has put Chelsea fourth in the Premier League table and five points behind third-placed Nottingham Forest.
In his post-match analysis, Glenn Hoddle believes Chelsea did just enough to see off an underwhelming Spurs side, who have now lost 16 games in the Premier League this season under Ange Postecoglou.
Meanwhile, Sherwood feels Caicedo played an integral role in stopping Spurs’ attacking threat.
‘They didn’t play free-flowing, quick football where it was one, two touch through the pitch quickly, create, get corners, get pressure, it wasn’t that sort of performance from Chelsea,’ Hoddle told Premier League Productions.
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‘I think the manager said it right, they did enough to win, they deserved to win, they did just enough to win tonight against Tottenham who were playing a little bit within.
‘If they’d have played against Liverpool tonight, or Man City, or Forest, they might have had some trouble, they really might.’
Sherwood then added: ‘Better structure – Caicedo is a diamond of a player.
‘He breaks up so many attacks, he sits in that midfield, for [Levi] Colwill and [Trevoh] Chalobah tonight he must’ve been a dream.
‘He was just in there and giving it to players who can play in front of him, the likes of Enzo, Cole Palmer, [Pedro] Neto, always threatens in behind even though it wasn’t his best game, they’ve got Nicolas Jackson back.
‘They need to finish in the top five otherwise it’s not a very good season for them.’
Meanwhile, former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink described Caicedo as ‘immense’ against Spurs and welcomed the return of Nicolas Jackson, who made his comeback after a two-month layoff due to a hamstring injury.
‘It’s important for the team, he [Jackson] brings a lot of energy,’ Hasselbaink said.
‘He gives them something else they don’t have. Yes, he needs to get better at converting his chances but he’s creating his own chances a lot of the time.
‘He’s putting defenders on the back foot and that’s what they’ve missed. It’s important having him back.
‘I hope they can take a lot from the game, they’ve got Nicolas back, Palmer back, Caicedo was immense today, he was so important for the team. They played some good football here and there, now until the rest of the season they’ve got to challenge themselves.
‘What was really good today as well is that they kept a clean sheet. If you keep clean sheets you have a much bigger chance of winning games, successful teams that’s what they do – keep clean sheets.’
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