It was a night to forget for every Spurs player and fan as their fierce rivals, Chelsea, picked up another win at their home stadium. In the six years it has been open, the Blues have only ever lost once to Tottenham, and they barely had to get out of second gear to collect three points in the latest instalment. Van de Ven was caught up in the moment when their opponents scored their goal, losing the ball to Moises Caicedo before Joao Pedro opened the scoring. And with the crowd clearly frustrated at full-time, the giant defender, alongside team-mate Djed Spence, offered no appreciation for those who had sat and watched a difficult 90 minutes, despite Frank appearing to tell his players to show some recognition. 

However, the Spurs boss did reveal both players came and apologised the morning after. He said: “Micky and Djed came into my office yesterday and just said they wanted to say sorry for the situation. They didn’t want it to look bad or any misconception that you can get in this beautiful media world. So there was no disrespect meant at all towards me or the team. They were just frustrated with the performance from us and the booing during the game.

“If they didn’t come in, of course I would have had to ask them about the situation they are working in. How they are feeling, why they are doing it? Because we all have a perception,” he said. “Whether it was because their mum wasn’t well or they didn’t like the head coach or they were irritated by the performance because they lost, or whatever. Of course, I am happy that they were coming in because that means they care – I think that is very good. They care about the team, the club and, in this case, me. I am happy with that.”