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Tottenham v CHELSEA: Preview

Date: Sunday 26th February 2023

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Kick-off: 13:30 GMT

Today’s early game is the 150th meeting between us and Sp*rs, and I’ve probably never dreaded facing them quite as much as today. Whilst they beat West Ham last time out, we had one of the worst games against Southampton I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching and topped it off with a 1-0 defeat. It was truly hideous, and my biggest concern is that it still might not be our rock bottom.

Does that mean I wish the manager any ill will though? No because he seems like a decent bloke and as a grown up, I can acknowledge that much. Like most right now, my eyes hurt from some of the football we’ve played lately, and it doesn’t seem as if he’ll be turning it around anytime soon but it also doesn’t seem he’ll be leaving us anytime soon either, so as long as we can scrape enough points together to stay up, I can write a season off as opposed to a father and his children.

We can’t buy a win, because we can’t buy a goal, so it’s hardly surprising we’re sat six places and 11 points behind Sp*rs right now. They might be a bit Jekyll and Hyde themselves at times, but they still pick up the points with Son and Kane tuned in. Unfortunately for us, they seem to turn up in the second half of a game too, because we’re usually over it by then.

We’re unbeaten in six against them, have taken 20 points from the last 24 available in this fixture, and our record against them is legendary, so I’d imagine they’ll enjoy taking full advantage of our poor form this afternoon to cut that deficit. They got a very late draw against us early on this season, in a game that finished with a bit of arm wrestling between the managers. Antonio Conte won’t be in the home dug-out today as he continues his recovery from surgery, so it’ll be a more sedate affair – on the touchline anyway.  

MANAGER’S VIEWS

Going into today’s game, Tottenham manager Antonio Conte continues to recover from surgery, so Cristian Stellini in his place, says “I enjoy a lot to be a coach in charge but when you take a decision you have to do your best. Sometimes I think about being a coach and it’s a dream. But I’m an assistant and that’s the reality. I feel I’m good in this job [as an assistant] to continue.

A team like Chelsea can recover and win many games in a row. But we have to think about our game and not what happened after. We have to think about us and our way to be better, our way and the target we want to reach. Not think about what the opponent can do or not do.”

Chelsea manager Graham Potter, meanwhile, says “I want to see a positive reaction. We need a strong performance, we need three points. It’s a fantastic game, a London derby. It’s a game we’re really looking forward to, the training week has been really good, the response of the players has been really good.”

SQUAD NEWS

For Tottenham, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Hugo Lloris and Ryan Sessegnon all remain out.

For Chelsea, Armando Broja (ACL) and Edouard Mendy (finger) remain out injured. Christian Pulisic (knee) and N’Golo Kante, are back training but not ready for a return, whilst Cesar Azpilicueta is still recovering from the head injury he sustained against Southampton.

TEAMS

TOTTENHAM (Possible line-up): Forster; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Emerson, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Davies; Kulusevski, Kane, Son

CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Arrizabalaga; James, Thiago Silva, Badiashile, Chilwell; Loftus-Cheek, Fernandez; Mudryk, Felix, Sterling; Havertz

LAST SEASON

Tottenham 0-3 Chelsea (19th Sept 2021)

FORM (PL)

TOTTENHAM: LLWWLW

CHELSEA: LWDDDL

OTHER STUFF

  • Chelsea have won the last three away league games against Tottenham.
  • Tottenham have won seven of 61 Premier League games against Chelsea.
  • Chelsea are without a win in five in all competitions.
  • Tottenham are without a win in the last eight top-flight meetings.
  • Chelsea have won one game from 10 in all competitions in 2023
  • Tottenham have won their last two games at home without conceding.
  • Chelsea are without a win in nine away games

PREDICTION

Sportsmole: Tottenham 1-1 Chelsea

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