Inter's Superman still flying down the flanks

And so it ends. After 49 games - equalling Arsenal's Invincibles' long run of undefeated matches - Juventus were finally beaten in Serie A last night. The side from Turin lost after scoring in the first 20 seconds, as Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti was caught out of position enabling Kwadwo Asamoah to cross for the score. It was a rare mistake for the consistent and veteran Argentine Zanetti, who will be 40 next August. He recovered to put in a man of the match performance and help the Giuseppe Meazza outfit to a famous victory.

The 145-cap international was playing as a right wing-back, with both of the Derby D'Italia's competitors lining up with three at the back. Zanetti faced a tough task for the evening, marshalling the forward forays of the younger, quicker, stronger Asamoah. Yet using all his nous picked up since beginning in top-flight football in 1992 with Banfield, the defensive utility man blocked off Asamoah's sorties. Ever energetic, neat in possession, continually carrying the ball forward into enemy territory, able to disrupt the opposition's playing patterns with his fine reading of the game, Zanetti must go down as one of football's greatest full-backs. And such is his ability the 39-year-old has often forced himself into central midfield with his strong running and leadership.

In the summer, his contract expires, and many will wonder if he will finally hang up his boots, being the oldest outfield player in Serie A that he is. Judging on last night's match that will surely not happen. With his upright running style, Javier Zanetti - who shares a slight resemblance to Christopher Reeve - could be flying up the right flank for a few seasons yet.

Cruel, cool Chelsea take home the points as their three conductors enjoy centre stage at White Hart Lane

It was a disappointing defeat as Spurs lost their first home Premier League game of the 2012-13 season. Especially disenchanting that it should be Chelsea inflicting the damage, after the European champions so brutally denied Tottenham fans from seeing their club compete in the Champions League this year. Okay, the rules of every competition are laid out well in advance, and there can be no quibbling at losing the coveted last entry place for Europe's elite competition, but oh how it rankles that your club should finish fourth yet be denied by two undeserved victories for your rivals in Camp Nou and then the Allianz Arena. Tottenham have been unlucky for sure.

But that Chelsea should come to North London and take the three points, in a crucial encounter that could have seen the Lilywhites make real inroads into the race for the Championship, is doubly galling. Especially when you consider that the men who did the damage conceivably could have been plying their trade down the Seven Sisters High Road rather than in West London. Unlikely as it was, Tottenham made the early running for Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar at various times in the last 12 months, when the three impish midfielders were considering the next steps in their career. Although Mata may not have considered a club of Tottenham's class, should Spurs have been in the Champions League in 2012-13 then it's not so ridiculous to suggest that one of the three could have been supplying the bullets to Jermain Defoe on Saturday afternoon. Instead, Andre Villas-Boas must make do with Clint Dempsey and Gylfi Sigurdsson, two decent league players, but a pair who trailed in the shadows of Chelsea's silky trio for large parts of this weekend's match.

The three Blues orchestrators were the chief tormentors, neatly recycling the ball through the middle of White Hart Lane, at times with ease, at other moments with pure class and ingenuity, as they fed each other into the spaces that appeared when Sandro, Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore slowed their movement. By keeping the ball and teasing their chasing opposition, they tested the heart of their opponents just like the home fans' heartstrings were pulled around last May. Finally given the space the three conjurors craved in the second half of Saturday's pulsating encounter, they then ruthlessly exposed the Tottenham rear-guard to ensure the points went to Stamford Bridge. The fatal wounding was delivered just after Spurs supporters' hopes were raised following a high-intensity blast of pressing straight after half-time that saw the home side briefly lead the game 2-1. Still, at least the White Hart Lane faithful will be used to such cruel resolutions by now...

Reasons to be cheerful - the match stats show that Spurs were unlucky to not get anything from the game on Saturday, and with up to five first team regulars (Bale, Dembele, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto and Parker) missing, the north Londoners can be sure that a brighter future awaits them:

Long lived the King…

The former club captain is as laid back as they come. A stylish player who became a firm fan favourite and quite simply a footballing icon in North London. Yes, Thierry Henry would have a strong argument to being Arsenal's greatest ever player. A record of 228 goals in 376 games, topping Ian Wright and Cliff Bastin's records, holds sway. But upon asked who his toughest opponent was in Match magazine he named, the unlikely-to-many Ledley King. Henry cited the Tottenham club captain's ability to nick the ball off him without resort to dark arts or overly physical means. King was, in his opinion, a master of timing and judgement. Of course, with Spurs and Arsenal's rivalry there could be some political interference here but there can be no doubting that King impressed many who saw him play.

And Ledley was rated. Many believe that he could have overtaken Rio Ferdinand or John Terry as a golden defender at the heart of the English team were it not for his well-documented injuries. Maybe this is hyperbole – King even at his peak wasn't linked with transfers to the biggest clubs as would befit a world class centre half, but there can be no doubting of his value to successive Tottenham managers, and in general, the way he impressed all those who watched him play, not least three England managers. He was, to many, 'a Rolls Royce' of a player, as Martin Jol declared back in 2007. 

King dealt in security, offering reliability to an often listing Tottenham defence that always looked more tangible with Ledley's impeccable measured tackles anchoring the central areas. His reading of the game was formidable, and at his peak he could match the best with his pace, acceleration and strength in the air, witness the last-gasp tackles on Arjen Robben at White Hart Lane in November 2006 and even early last season as he slid in to deny Clint Dempsey surely scoring at Craven Cottage. Indeed, he reduced Henry to a bit-part for England in the opening game of Euro 2004, filling in admirably after a late injury to Rio Ferdinand (and demonstrating what might have been, as a partnership with Sol Campbell exuded natural understanding and sheer excellence). Later he shined in London derbies, becoming a key player as Spurs advanced from the pack to become a team of genuine ambition. King recently said that he was injured within three minutes of making his full debut against Derby in 1999 at the age of 19, a blow to his knee that would continue to affect him throughout his career. He confessed of the damage and how it would impose itself on him: "I quickly grasped that I was never going to be as good as I wanted to be but I still felt I could be very good." How good could he have been will remain a drinking debate along the Tottenham High Road for many years to come.

Ledley was always so relaxed, his shoulders betraying a constant easiness and confident demeanor that rubbed off on his play. He was a leader-by-example type, commanding respect as he did the six-yard box. He said the right things, rather than squawking from the back. And in the same vein did he play. There was nary an unsightly kerfuffle with his defending. Just a well-timed tackle, swift dispossession and play on. He was a classy protector of the Tottenham goal, a security guard dressed in lillywhite silk, a man of tremendous gift and a cornerstone of the club's advancement. Ledley King could have been named by Dickens such was the appropriateness of his moniker. Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt, Ledley King: men named in advance.