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
