Dele Alli's timing is everything in Tottenham's victory against Chelsea 

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Tottenham Hotspur managed to end Chelsea's 13-game winning run with a 2-0 victory against the Blues at White Hart Lane.

Spurs were in sublime form throughout, belying pre-match expectations to comfortably beat Antonio Conte's league leaders.

Sportsmail columnist Martin Keown has put together his BIG MATCH ANALYSIS following the hard-fought encounter. 

Dele Alli (left) and Hugo Lloris (right) celebrate after a hard-fought victory against Chelsea

Patient Alli gets his timing just right 

Time seemed to stand still in the moments before Dele Alli scored the opener. Everyone watching knew what he was going to do, and he had to wait some time for the ball to arrive, but he stayed patient and placed a glorious header out of Thibaut Courtois’ reach.

He made it look easy when it was anything but. To have that level of calmness and self-assurance at such a young age on a high-pressure occasion is immensely impressive. Couple that with his ability to perfectly time late runs into the box and the 20-year-old is already showing the hallmarks of a top player.

Time stood still in the moments before Alli scored his opening goal against Chelsea at home

The young midfielder has a unique talent for timing his ghosting runs into the penalty area

Players like Frank Lampard and David Platt were known for this ability to ghost into the box, and Alli does it as well as anyone in the Premier League right now.

It was remarkable how much space the England midfielder was afforded, though, and this was the result of some slack defensive positioning. 

Chelsea play three centre halves but Gary Cahill had gone out wide to engage Kyle Walker, while David Luiz was more concerned with stepping up than marking the attacker. This essentially left Cesar Azpilicueta — a full back by trade and not as adept in the air as Cahill and Luiz — to pick up Alli and Kane, which was a recipe for disaster.

It all adds up for Poch 

With both teams lining up in the same 3-4-3 formation the first half resembled a chess match, and you have to say that Spurs looked just as comfortable with the system as the team who had just won 13 consecutive games in it.

Mauricio Pochettino also played three at the back to good effect against Arsenal at the Emirates earlier in the season and I would be surprised if he didn’t employ this formation for the rest of the season.

I spoke on Wednesday about how important wing backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose are to the system — both were excellent again but it was the midfield pair of Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama who really impressed me. Both combined physicality and the class to hold on to the ball under pressure. Dembele, in particular, carried it forward at every opportunity and Chelsea struggled to live with him.

Mauricio Pochettino (left) got his system right against Chelsea on Wednesday night

The Argentinian manager has used a 3-4-3 to good effect this season and could stick with it

Blues weren't fired up

Chelsea looked a shadow of their recent selves and it seemed like they weren’t playing with the same level of anger as over the last 13 games. Maybe life has been a bit too good for them of late!

I think this was mostly down to the way Tottenham handled them. Pochettino’s side matched their visitors from a physical standpoint and did very well to quell any potential storm, particularly at the start of the second half. 

They kept Chelsea at bay while on the back foot before hitting back with a second goal.

Chelsea were not playing with the same level of anger against Spurs as the last 13 games

Chelsea were kept at bay before Spurs managed to pick them off slowly on Wednesday