Bill Edgar's tactical analysis

It is easy to scoff that Chelsea and Nicolas Anelka are the perfect match – a club intent on buying success and a player who has spent his career repeatedly selling himself to the highest bidder – but there are more positive reasons for predicting a happy union. By targeting a 28-year-old close to his peak and Branislav Ivanovic, a 23-year-old whose signing from Lokomotiv Moscow should be confirmed this week, Chelsea are at least attempting to plan for the long term, while Anelka is also showing signs of reaching maturity.

Just 32 minutes into his Chelsea career is rather early for confident predictions of greatness, but Anelka at least made a decent start against Tottenham Hotspur. The France striker did precisely what was asked of him in that he made an immediate impact, being denied a debut goal by Radek Cerny after a smart shot on the turn only three minutes after coming on as a substitute and hitting the bar in injury time in a cameo that deserved to be rewarded with a goal.

Perhaps even more impressive was the way he conducted himself, politely applauding his new fans and working hard for his teammates before being driven away from the ground in a battered Vauxhall Astra, a world away from the surly, money-obsessed youth who engineered an acrimonious exit from Arsenal nine years ago.

Chelsea hope to benefit from their new signing’s improved state of mind. “I think I am happier now, more content and settled in my life,” Anelka said. “Sometimes you don’t realise the chance you have when you are playing at a club like Arsenal. But because I’ve lived so many things in my life, I realise my chance now that I am at Chelsea. I know what happened in the past, I know where I am now and I’m just happy to be here.

“It’s very important to be happy in my life. Now I feel happy in my life and I will be happy on the pitch and do good things. I hope my peak will be until I am 35. I can hit it now and carry on. I don’t think I’ve changed a lot, but you grow up as a person.”

Avram Grant claims that Chelsea are growing all the time and even though their nineteenth win in 26 matches under the new first-team coach was of the attritional variety favoured by José Mourinho, the range of attacking options at his disposal does represent progress. When Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou return from the African Cup of Nations, Grant will be able to call upon three of the fastest forwards in the Barclays Premier League, as well as the predatory skills of Andriy Shevchenko and Claudio Pizarro.

Anelka indicated a willingness to change the way he plays to suit Drogba, with whom he believes he can form a partnership as prolific as the one achieved with Dennis Bergkamp that helped Arsenal to the Double in 1998. “I think it will be easy to play with Drogba,” Anelka said. “He is a big player and I know the way he plays. I can play around him, or we can play two up front. I think I will complement him because I feel I am a creative player. I don’t want to just be on the pitch to score. I want to play passes, I like to do that.

“I am willing to adapt my game to make sure we are a good partnership. When he comes back it’s going to be very good for us together. Dennis Bergkamp was very good when I played with him. I hope we could be as good together as that.”

Chelsea, with Florent Malouda and Joe Cole threatening from the wings, promise to be especially dangerous on the counter-attack, particularly with Shaun Wright-Phillips enjoying the best form of his career in his new position deeper in the midfield.

The 26-year-old’s pace makes him perfect for the transitional role of turning defence into attack and is excelling at the moment, scoring his second goal in successive matches with a powerful right-foot strike after Juliano Belletti had given Chelsea the lead with a 30-yard shot, as well as creating the two chances for Anelka. “It was a great week for Shaun,” Grant said. “Not only for the goals he scored, which were fantastic, but for the job he did in midfield. He worked hard, passed the ball very well, showed good movement.

“We have moved him inside because we are short in the squad at the moment and we want a more attacking midfield. When you play 4-3-3 you want at least one of the midfield three to be able to score goals, but he can create chances as well.”

Tottenham looked laboured after their midweek Carling Cup efforts away to Arsenal, with the absence of Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone and Didier Zokora because of suspension and international duty leaving them desperately short in midfield.

Jamie O’Hara battled away to the best of his abilities, but Kevin-Prince Boateng could not even manage that, while Dimitar Berbatov picked the wrong day to have a quiet match against opponents who may target him in the summer. If Anelka is as good as his word and Drogba is convinced to stay, Chelsea should not need to.

Chelsea (4-3-3) P Cech 6 J Belletti 7 Alex 5 R Carvalho 6 A Cole 5 S Wright-Phillips 7 C Makelele Y 6 M Ballack Y 6 J Cole 7 C Pizarro 5 F Malouda 5. Substitutes: N Anelka 6 (for Pizarro, 58min), W Bridge (for Malouda, 84), S Sidwell (for Wright-Phillips, 90) Not used: C Cudicini, T Ben-Haim Next: Birmingham (a)

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2) R Cerny 6 P Chimbonda 6 L King 6 M Dawson 5 Lee Young Pyo 5 A Lennon Y 6 J O’Hara Y 5 K-P Boateng Y 4 S Malbranque Y 4 D Berbatov 4 R Keane 5. Substitutes: A Taarabt 6 (for Malbranque, 59), J Defoe (for O’Hara, 77), Y Kaboul (for Boateng, 84) Not used: P Robinson, C Gunter Next: Sunderland (h)

Referee A Wiley
Attendance 41,777