Chelsea Claims the Season's First London Derby

The season may not have started the way Chelsea wanted, but they atoned for it here.

Tottenham's cozy home at White Hart Lane is down for repairs this season, so they hosted the Blues at iconic Wembley Stadium.

So much for 'home' advantage.

The defending Premiership titlists prevailed in what for them was a neutral site, and it showed in a 1-2 battle.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino is likely doing the video breakdown right now, trying to sort that out in his own Argentine way.

Frankly, the tides were favoring Tottenham on this one rather than the champions. Really, does this look like a loser's ledger:

Proof yet again that Sir Winston Churchill was right. There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Besides fouls, which the Blues traditionally love doing when playing the North Londoners, they led in the only stat that counted.

How Chelsea's £60million striker Álvaro Morata misfired on a header in the early going was exasperating, but it was soon followed in the 24th minute by Marcos Alonso popping an absolute gem of a shot:

This is as good as it gets. Keep as many 'keepers between the posts, and there's no stopping it.

Tottenham just couldn't find a way inside Chelsea’s defense but still worked some voodoo magic on the Blues' Michy Batshuayi.

The Belgian international will be none too proud of this effort:

Nice header, though.

However, it was eight minutes from time.

But just when Spurs thought they'd been gifted a point, Chelsea's man of the hour -- Alonso -- turned savior again by finishing a counter that resulted from an egregious Tottenham turnover:

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Not that turnover!

Although, Tottenham would've probably botched it, too.

88th minute, too.

So much for Spurs' 19-game home unbeaten streak. If only this were their home.