{"id":10640,"date":"2026-05-19T13:45:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=10640"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:45:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:45:51","slug":"toby-alderweireld-reveals-craziest-tottenham-game-he-played-in-that-makes-him-feel-anti-var","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=10640","title":{"rendered":"Toby Alderweireld reveals &#8216;craziest&#8217; Tottenham game he played in that makes him feel anti-VAR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-396327\">\n<div class=\"article-follow\">\n<div class=\"article-sharing google-follow\">  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> <span>Add as preferred source on Google<\/span>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Toby Alderweireld has reflected on the Battle of the Bridge a decade ago as Tottenham Hotspur face another big clash at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chelsea fans would have liked nothing more than to be the ones to relegate Tottenham, but that can no longer happen after West Ham\u2019s loss at St James\u2019 Park on Sunday.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-grvmedia-grv-video GRVMultiVideo\"\/>\n<p>Spurs now only need a point to all but guarantee their place in the Premier League next season, and they will want to seal their survival in West London rather than letting the relegation battle go into the final day of the season.<\/p>\n<p>The game has echoes of the \u2018Battle of the Bridge\u2019 back in 2016, where Spurs travelled to Chelsea needing a win to keep their title hopes alive, only for the home side to hold them to a 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"695\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/static\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-527325770-1024x695.jpg\" alt=\"Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur - Premier League\" class=\"wp-image-395728\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/static\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-527325770-1024x695.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/static\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-527325770-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/static\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-527325770-768x521.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/static\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-527325770-1536x1042.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/static\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-527325770-1140x773.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/static\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-527325770-750x509.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/static\/uploads\/1\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-527325770-scaled.jpg 1280w\"\/><\/div><figcaption title=\"LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 02:  Jan Vertonghen of Tottenham Hotspur is brough down by Diego Costa of Chelsea during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on May 02, 2016 in London, England.jd  (Photo by Shaun Botterill\/Getty Images)\">Photo by Shaun Botterill\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-toby-alderweireld-admits-tottenham-s-2-2-draw-at-chelsea-is-craziest-game-he-has-played\">Toby Alderweireld admits Tottenham\u2019s 2-2 draw at Chelsea is \u2018craziest game\u2019 he has played<\/h2>\n<p>Alderweireld, who was a key part of the Spurs side that was beaten to the title by Leicester City back in 2015-16, admitted that he never experienced a game like the London derby at Stamford Bridge that season.<\/p>\n<p>The Belgian admitted that it was evident right from the start of the game that neither side was going to shy away from the battle.<\/p>\n<p>Alderweireld told The Times about the \u2018Battle of the Bridge\u2019: \u201cI was the only one who didn\u2019t get a yellow!\u201d Alderweireld says. \u201cI think it was the craziest game I ever played. Foul, foul, the game always standing still and the yellow cards. You could feel the game from the first duel, the first foul, it\u2019s like \u2018Oh that was a nasty one\u2019. Straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pressure had been building for a couple of weeks and all the attention meant everyone was so fired up. At that time, we were always above Arsenal, so for me that was not really the rivalry, it was much more Chelsea. With VAR you wouldn\u2019t get a game like that now. Maybe I\u2019m a nostalgic guy, but that was the beauty of no VAR.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-alderweireld-believes-spurs-can-win-at-chelsea-tomorrow\">Alderweireld believes Spurs can win at Chelsea tomorrow<\/h2>\n<p>The Lilywhites will be taking on a Chelsea side which has not won a league match for two and a half months.<\/p>\n<p>Alderweireld insists that Roberto De Zerbi\u2019s men are capable of making it three wins from three away games on Tuesday and securing their spot in the top-flight.<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cOf course, Spurs can win. They have the situation in their own hands, so that\u2019s positive, and this is not the best Chelsea team. They definitely have a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.spurs-web.com\/subscribe\/\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-feedback\">\n<div class=\"info\"> <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" viewbox=\"0 0 32 32\"> <path fill=\"#EC1B23\" d=\"M27.167 5.194c.261-.124.444-.325.75-.403-1.331-1.581-3.131-2.651-5.114-3.196-1.88-.517-4.161-.765-6.074-.262-1.756.461-3.144 1.672-4.802 2.352-2.104.862-4.426.657-6.531-.104.48 4.57.969 9.13 1.498 13.651 1.279.743 2.629.96 4.079.712 1.594-.273 3.005-1.037 4.47-1.677 1.684-.737 3.42-1.106 5.263-.953 2.008.167 3.886.889 5.715 1.689 1-1.933.535-4.317.117-6.342-.369-1.788-1.136-4.145.629-5.467.261-.124-.241.181 0 0z\"\/> <path d=\"M8.045 27.831c.098.865.627 3.145-.403 3.11-.497-.016-.622-.631-.692-1.325-.88-8.808-2.006-17.214-2.822-25.862-.043-.456-.205-1.421.519-1.44.665-.017.749 1.267.749 1.267s2.242 20.663 2.649 24.25z\"\/><\/svg> <span>Have something to tell us about this article?<\/span> <span><button class=\"button\" onclick=\"window.location.href=\" http:=\"\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Feedback\">Let us know<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add as preferred source on Google Toby Alderweireld has reflected on the Battle of the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}