When Tottenham Hotspur last beat Chelsea in league action at Stamford Bridge, the Premier League was still two years from conception and Eden Hazard had not even been born. It was February 1990 and over 28,000 were in attendance to see Gary Lineker bag a late winner for the Lilywhites.
It is safe to say that Chelsea have Tottenham’s number, losing to the North Londoners on only six of the 62 occasions that they have played each other since that defeat.
Tottenham are not without motivation, though, to end this losing sequence at their rivals’ ground. After being knocked out of the Champions League midweek, Mauricio Pochettino’s efforts must turn towards securing a top four finish in a league that appears tougher for the Argentine’s men than last year’s. Spurs have their own streak to protect, as they are the only remaining unbeaten team left in the Premier League.
Chelsea look ominous
Chelsea are in rip-roaring form and Antonio Conte seems to be having the desired effect on a group of players who looked lost and low on morale for the long stretches of a wretched season.
Without the distractions of European football, Conte has already surpassed half of last season’s tally (50) in less than a third of the season. First-team reinforcements have been defensive in nature; David Luiz, Marcos Alonso and N’Golo Kante have helped Thibaut Courtois keep six straight clean sheets leading up to this game.
It is important to note the effect that these signings have had on the attacking trio of Hazard, Diego Costa and Pedro. The pressure on the wide men to get back and defend has been considerably relieved, with Pedro the biggest beneficiary of the switch to a 3-4-3, having consigned last season’s hero Willian to the bench.
Costa, who bagged 12 goals last season, has 10 strikes to his name and is the Premier League’s leading goalscorer. Hazard looks like a free man again and is back to being the inside-forward, who terrorised backlines and took the league by storm in Chelsea’s title-winning campaign of 2014-’15.
The Belgian’s form has been the ultimate reflection of Chelsea’s last two campaigns, glorious one season and abject in the other. By that yardstick, times are good for the Blues. Tottenham’s run is in serious jeopardy.
Spurs are missing key players
It seems like eons since a complete team performance from Tottenham handed Manchester City their first loss on the season at White Hart Lane on October 2. That evening, Spurs had hassled and harried Pep Guardiola’s men, runaway leaders at that point and the frontline had bullied the visitors’ defence into making a couple of errors, resulting in a resounding victory.
Since then, Spurs’ form has nosedived, managing to get knocked out of Europe’s premier club competition and slipping from second to fifth in the Premier League table, courtesy of four consecutive draws in the Premier League.
They finally did break that sequence with a 3-2 win over West Ham last week, but only due to Son-Hueng Min popping up with a couple of assists for Harry Kane in the dying minutes of the game.
A loss of stability in defence has seen them being unable to outscore the opposition in Harry Kane’s prolonged absence. The Englishman is back and the South Korean Son had shouldered a majority of the attacking responsibility with Kane out, but it will be interesting to see if both the attackers can kick on from here.
Erik Lamela, an useful option to have in attack, is ruled out due to injury, as is another man whose importance to the team may rival even that of Kane’s. The win over Manchester City was the last time that Toby Alderweireld played the entire 90 minutes in the Premier League.
It has not been the same at the back without the pairing of the Belgian, out for this clash as well, and compatriot Jan Vertonghen, as Spurs have only kept one PL clean sheet since. Danny Rose’s suspension may mean that Vertonghen play on the left.
Vertonghen was bizarrely given the night off in a must-win game against Monaco but with back-up left back Ben Davies also out due to injury, it looks like the pairing of Eric Dier and Kevin Wimmer will start this match as well. The biggest job of the evening may well fall to Victor Wanyama, to shield a patchwork defence from the home team, who have scored 17 in their last six.
Unchanged XI for Chelsea
Conte, in all probability, will field an unchanged XI for the sixth game in a row. Knocked out of the League Cup and with no part to play in Europe, Chelsea have a clean run of fixtures till the start of the FA Cup.
After a trip to the Etihad next weekend, West Brom, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Stoke follow till the end of the year. Should they come out of the Tottenham and City games unscathed, the Blues could build up a sizeable lead at the top of the League till the return trip to White Hart Lane at the start of the new year.
For Pochettino, European ambitions have been crushed brutally in the first half of the season and the aim will be to secure a Champions League spot. Tottenham’s gung-go style of play has seen them burn out before the end of the season in the past and a Europa League run may test their strained resources severely. The North Londers have seen what should have been a season of advancement turn into a race for quiet consolidation very quickly.
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