It was meant to be the game Chelsea did not want, the fixture they could do without, the one, some even claimed, which would not mean the end of the world if they lost.
But nobody told Didier Drogba, nobody told Frank Lampard, nobody told Juan Mata or John Terry and, crucially, nobody told Roberto Di Matteo, the Stamford Bridge club's interim manager.
One eye on Barcelona? More like one eye on a fourth FA Cup triumph in six seasons and one on sending a message to Tottenham Hotspur in the race for fourth place in the Barclays Premier League.
That message? We are coming to get you.
The thumping victory may have come at a cost, however, with Di Matteo's refusal to rest any of his stars seeing David Luiz carried off on a stretcher and Drogba also leaving the field injured.
The debates about goal-line technology and the standard of refereeing in England will rage on after Martin Atkinson shot straight to the top of the blunder league by awarding Mata a goal which never crossed the line. They will be hoping not to have used up all their luck ahead of their Champions League showdown with Barcelona on Wednesday.
What a time for Harry Redknapp to suffer one of the biggest humiliations of his managerial career in front of the men who will decide the next England manager. Football Association wise men David Bernstein, Alex Horne, Sir Trevor Brooking and Adrian Bevington were all at Wembley to watch the Tottenham manager be completely outwitted by a man who has been Chelsea interim manager for a mere six weeks.
And what a six weeks it has been for Di Matteo, who left Wembley with his winning record in competitive matches and unbeaten record against Tottenham completely in tact.Yesterday was as much of an audition for Di Matteo as it was for Redknapp, with the Italian increasingly in the frame to land the Chelsea job full-time.
In a drab opening 40 minutes neither side demonstrated their talent that had attracted more than 85,000 supporters to the London derby.
Indeed, it was hard to see why television executives had demanded a primetime kick-off – much to Chelsea's chagrin – with the only chances coming from the kind of mistakes Liverpool and Everton conspired to make in their meeting on Saturday.Mata wasted one, Terry's goal-line clearance kept out another and the post took offence at what would have been a Rafael van der Vaart freak goal.
Even Drogba's opener on 43 minutes owed as much to William Gallas' flimsiness as the brutish brilliance of the Ivorian, who has made the new Wembley his own personal fiefdom, with this his seventh goal here.
Half-time proved not long enough for Tottenham to rally themselves. It took the burning sense of injustice at Mata's 'goal' to achieve that, with the ball appearing to hit a cluster of bodies without clearing the line. Referee Atkinson thought different, though, and the goal stood despite protests from the frantic Spurs players.
Had Bale been as cynical as Ashley Young, he might have conspired to ignore the open goal Petr Cech's lunge at Emmanuel Adebayor presented him with seven minutes later. That would have brought a penalty and a red card for Cech, on top of the nasty-looking injury suffered in the build-up that forced off Luiz. Instead he prodded the ball home to give his side a lifeline.
Chelsea regrouped and how. Ramires broke Spurs hearts before Lampard crashed home a superb free-kick of the season and substitute Florent Malouda piled on the misery in the 90th minute.
Amid Chelsea's jubilation, Tottenham's dejected supporters ultimately stunned into silence and an early exit, wondering what might have been.
This summer, Redknapp may well too.
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