16 Conclusions: Tuchel and Chelsea 2-2 Conte and Tottenham

Chelsea have shown their best and worst sides. Tottenham too, really. But the main event between Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte was worth it.

1) Antonio Conte will never get his only regular day at Barclays.

2) Spare a thought for perhaps the one person who wouldn't have enjoyed that whimsical, heart-pounding, needle-filled 90 minutes: Mark Clattenburg must have hated the long-awaited bridge battle sequel involving a referee who had no "game plan". Shame on Anthony Taylor.

3) Does anyone else suddenly really miss Erik Lamela?

4) It's almost (but mostly absolutely not at all) a shame that Conte and Thomas Tuchel's unexpected blood feud overshadows the less title-worthy and eye-catching aspect of their duel. The tactical head-to-head between two extremely talented technicians, teasing their sideline fight, was titillating.

It was a Tuchel TKO in the first round. Chelsea overloaded the midfield, just as they had great effect in the Carabao semi-final in January, and Tottenham's counter-attacking threat crumbled in on itself when Heung-min Son and Dejan Kulusevski stepped down to offer their support.

Conte responded in a similar fashion, rejecting the temptation of a five-time half-time substitution and instead adjusting his system to mirror Chelsea's, prompting the first equalizer.

Tuchel realigned his system with just one substitution, replacing Jorginho with Cesar Azpilicueta to provide much more width with Reece James released to play at the back - and score Chelsea's second.

Conte, creating his own chance, finished the match with Harry Kane, Richarlison, Ivan Perisic, Kulusevski and Lucas Moura on the court in mad pursuit for another leveler. A slightly deflected header from a corner that probably shouldn't have been is as good as any goal and for once the absence of a definite winner in a game between two bitter rivals seemed to be the most satisfying conclusion possible.

5) Hopefully Conte vs. Tuchel will at least distract the puditocracy long enough to avoid any further tedious talk about referees.

Chelsea had complaints about Tottenham's two-goal concession. A foul by Rodrigo Bentancur on Kai Havertz in the build-up to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's strike went unpunished, as did Cristian Romero's act of unsolicited sexual masochism on Marc Cucurella.

There are probably legitimate points to be made regarding both: the first foul was missed and VAR couldn't back the game that far, while Romero's foul at a corner should have called off the hold from which Kane scored.< /p>

But as always, if what you take away from a match of this quality is being pissed off at the officials for more than five seconds, you're watching the sport for the wrong reasons.

6) Moreover, Chelsea and Tuchel's protests are slightly undermined by Jorginho deciding to back up in his own penalty area and Kane not being marked from a corner in the second half. It's hard to reasonably accuse referees of negligence, complacency, or mistakes with a straight face after defending like this.

7) In Tuchel's case - and in this particular literal and figurative post-match heat - the German can be somewhat excused for focusing so publicly on Taylor's performance. But the next few days must be occupied with introspection on how Chelsea have...