It is the evening of Monday, May 2nd 2016 and the Skittles and Vodka have been placed on ice at Chez Jamie Vardy. Destiny is no longer calling for the Leicester City players, gathered in front of their totemic striker's cinema-sized television screen, it's screaming. Should Tottenham fail to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Leicester will be Premier League Champions.
The auguries for Spurs are not promising. The club hasn't won at Chelsea since February 1990, a 2-1 victory settled by a late winner from television's Gary Lineker. In the subsequent 26 years, Spurs had established a richly deserved reputation for being a soft touch, a willing accessory in other teams' success. Under Mauricio Pochettino's erudite management, however, things were changing. By the second half of the 2015/16 season, the Argentine's young side, spearheaded by the irrepressible English duo of Harry Kane and Dele Alli - all energy, pace and controlled aggression - were playing the best football in England.
While Leicester's unlikely lads had led the table off and on since November, it was only with a 2-1 win at Manchester City in February that Tottenham tiptoed past the bouncers and ensconced themselves in the VIP lounge of the title race. As Spring progressed Leicester appeared to be flagging - the wins were still coming, but increasingly secured by the narrowest of margins. A defence of Fuchs, Huth, Morgan and Simpson couldn't continue to keep clean sheet after clean sheet, could they? Spurs, by contrast, were staring to swagger. In mid-April, Manchester United were dispatched 3-0 at White Hart Lane. Then Stoke demolished 4-0 at the Britannia. Harry Kane felt compelled to take to social media, posting a picture of a pride of lions. The inference being Leicester City 'we're coming for you'.
Ahead of their match at Stamford Bridge, Tottenham's surging belief was suddenly checked by a disappointing 1-1 home draw with West Brom. A game in which Dele Alli offered a glimpse of what was to come in West London a week later. As Tottenham searched for a winning goal to ramp up the pressure on Leicester, Alli became frustrated with the attentions of Albion's tenacious midfield irritant Claudio Yacob. A surreptitious punch delivered into Yacob's midriff would be punished retrospectively - Alli's season was over.
The build-up to Chelsea versus Tottenham was tabloid manna from heaven. First Cesc Fabregas told Sky Sports he didn't want Tottenham to win the league. Then a smirking Eden Hazard provided a pre-match soundbite any boxing promoter would be proud of: "We don’t want Tottenham to win the Premier League. The fans, the club and the players ... we hope for Leicester because they deserve to be champions, but we will see. We have a big game next week against Tottenham, and if we can beat them, it will be good." Chelsea, title winners 12 months prior, appeared determined to anoint their own successors. Adding to the intrigue, and Tottenham's paranoia of a stitch-up, Chelsea were scheduled to play Leicester - led by former Blues manager Claudio Ranieri - on the final day of the season.
If any further motivation were needed for his Spurs players, Mauricio Pochettino now had sufficient inflammatory newspaper cuttings to wallpaper the entire Stamford Bridge away dressing room.
Mark Clattenburg welcomed captains John Terry and Hugo Lloris with a warm smile at the coin toss. It was to be the night's only act of civility. The French keeper opted to turn the sides around - Spurs would shoot towards the Shed End where their band of travelling fans were gathered. The next we would see of John Terry was a thumping challenge in the right-back position that crashed Heung-Min Son into the advertising boards.
The first 18 minutes were played at a ferocious pace but barring a bit of finger-pointing between Dembele and John Obi Mikel no player had transgressed significantly enough to warrant a yellow card. The first real hint of trouble came when Kyle Walker petulantly kicked out at Pedro, having seen his advance down the Chelsea left frustrated by the Spaniard. Walker, who would have an excellent game, may on another night, with a different referee, have been in serious trouble. Ten minutes later he received the game's first caution, again for a challenge perpetrated on the lively Pedro. It would not be the last.
Ten minutes from half-time Spurs produced the type of goal they'd engineered throughout the campaign. Precise one-touch passing, freeing Lamela to slip in Harry Kane, who rounded Begovic and stroked into an empty net. 1-0 Spurs and frowns on Leicester faces.
Three minutes later comes the match's first real conflagration. Diego Costa's shirt is torn as he shields the ball from Jan Vertonghen. In his attempts to escape the Belgian, Costa accidentally-on-purpose swings an elbow. The pair exchange opinions, with Costa resting his forehead momentarily on Vertonghen's face. It certainly wouldn't pass for a headbutt in Glasgow however much TV slow-motion replays might wish it to. Referee Clattenburg books the Tottenham man, Costa goes free.
With tempers fraying Clattenburg is no doubt hoping the imminent half-time break will allow the players to cool their jets. But before he can blow up Spurs seize on Ivanovic's mistake and Eriksen this time steers the ball through for Son to finish. 2-0 Spurs. Jamie Vardy reaches for the remote.
In the final action of the half, Danny Rose rattles into Willian directly in front of the dugouts. Pochettino who has been stalking the touchline all evening, bursts onto the pitch to separate the two players as they square up. Players and technical staff from both sides are quick to join him. Rose and Willian's names are taken. Only after Clattenburg brings the first 45 minutes to a close, do we see footage of Tottenham's normally serene midfield general Mousa Dembele, raking the eye of Costa during the melee. It's a move straight from the playbook of a professional wrestling villain, committed on the referee's blindside to infuriate the crowd all the more. Viewers at home are confused, however. With the perpetrator being Dembele and recipient Costa, it's unclear who they should boo and who they should cheer. Dembele would receive a six-game ban once the incident was reviewed, but in these final days of the pre VAR world, both he and Costa take to the field for the second half. As does Eden Hazard, replacing Pedro from the bench.
After the interval, Erik Lamela shatters any hope of detente, downing Fabregas with a lunging challenge and becoming Spurs fourth player to receive a yellow card. Before Eriksen can become the fifth, Gary Cahill pulls a goal back for Chelsea. A half volley with the outside of his left foot from a corner. Chelsea 1 Tottenham 2. Pulses in Leicester quicken.
Ivanovic is the next player booked having allowed Eriksen to get the wrong side, he accepts the caution with the resignation of a once-great player whose powers are waning.
With 15 minutes to play, substitute Ryan Mason has the chance to seal the game for Spurs. Played in beautifully by Walker, he steers a sidefoot shot to Begovic's right. It lacks the power or placement to beat the Bosnian keeper. Tottenham will rue the miss.
With seven minutes remaining the luminescent Hazard drives into Tottenham's final third. Pushing the ball off to Costa, he darts into the Spurs box. Costa's return pass is perfect. Hazard's curling first-time finish sublime. 2-2. The scenes in Jamie Vardy's front room will become the stuff of legend.
Spurs decide to go down fighting, literally. Fabregas is now a marked man. Recuperating on his haunches having been chopped down by Mason, he suddenly clutches his hand. Erik Lamela appears to have performed a 'no-look' stamp on the Chelsea midfielder. Replays suggest that Fabregas actually initiated the incident by trying to grab Lamela's leg first.
Dier receives Tottenham's seventh yellow card for a scything tackle on Hazard. John Obi Mikel is booked having protested for Dier to be shown a red. The six minutes of injury time leaves sufficient space for disciplinary records to be broken. With a chorus of "Leicester, Leicester, Leicester" and "One Ranieri" reverberating around Stamford Bridge, Tottenham heads have gone. Harry Kane becomes Spurs booking number eight for what might generously be called a forward's tackle on Willian. There is nothing generous about Dier's next tackle on Fabregas, worthy of a straight red. Clattenburg, however, seems determined to navigate all 22 players to full time and allows play to continue with Chelsea moving menacingly forward through Hazard. Mason knows what he has to do, Hazard is sent tumbling. Spurs have a record 9th yellow card, the game its twelfth. In Leicester, nobody is counting. Their fairytale is complete.
As the players make their way from the pitch, Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink is sent sprawling, collateral damage as Danny Rose and Fabregas continue hostilities. Michel Vorm, Tottenham's substitute goalkeeper, then grapples with all comers from the Chelsea bench, most notably assistant manager Eddie Newton, before stewards finally restore order.
Pochettino would later reveal that it was the behaviour of Chelsea coach Steve Holland during the match that had so incensed Spurs. "The way he looked at us as they piled on the pressure, the way he came over to our bench to celebrate Chelsea's goals was not right." Such was the negative impression Holland made on Pochettino, Spurs were the only club to protest Holland's appointment to the England national team coaching staff in 2017.
In response to Kane, Jamie Vardy would mischievously tweet a picture from Disney's The Lion King. It depicted Mufasa - leader of the pride - falling to his death. In the wake of what was instantly christened 'The Battle of the Bridge", the FA would charge both Tottenham and Chelsea with three counts of failing to control their players. Edifying, it may not have been. Captivating, absolutely.