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London Rivals Tottenham & Chelsea Go To War

Hello and welcome back to the weird and wonderful world of domestic football! That’s right, after two weeks of the international break we’re finally getting the chance to really embrace the kind of football that we all know and love, and that isn’t a knock on international football by any stretch. We happen to really enjoy the beautiful game, in that regard, in all of its glory – and we purely just feel even more enthusiastic about seeing the best battle the best on a week to week basis. It sounds simple, but in reality, the complexity of it all is what we love so much.

One such game that will have all eyes watching tomorrow night will be Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea, as the two local rivals battle it out once again. There’s an argument to be made that this is one of the most important games of the season so far and we certainly aren’t going to try and debate that point, because these two sides have been playing some great stuff ever since the campaign kicked off in August. Alas, the bad blood between them runs deep, and because of that we wouldn’t be entirely surprised to see the equivalent of a heavyweight slugfest at Wembley.

Mauricio Pochettino has received mixed reviews for the way Spurs have begun the season, with their perseverance in the face of adversity being praised – although, on the opposite end of the spectrum, their inability to bring anyone in during the summer transfer window is still a lingering problem just waiting to come back up and bite him. They’ve got an insane amount of potential in this team but talking about it is one thing, and then fulfilling it is another, and as we prepare for the busy winter break there are still a lot of questions in the air.

For Chelsea, things have gone about as well as they could’ve hoped since Maurizio Sarri came through the door (on the pitch, that is). The new boss has been able to guide them towards the top of the Premier League table, where they currently reside in 2nd place with only Manchester City and Liverpool above them. With no league defeats to their name you could certainly argue that they’re still in the title race, which would’ve seemed like a ridiculous thing to say prior to the season getting underway. Alas, here we are, and given their position, it’s fair to say that Sarri deserves all the plaudits he gets.

If there’s one thing that Pochettino’s Spurs understand how to do its grow and adapt to certain situations, and that’s never been on display more than when you take a quick glance at their last six game stretch. They were held to a disappointing Champions League draw against PSV Eindhoven which set them back in a big way, followed up by a 1-0 loss against reigning champions Manchester City. Then, however, they sprung into life with four consecutive victories, ensuring that nobody forgets just how good they can be. Those wins came against West Ham, Wolves, PSV and Crystal Palace.

Chelsea, on the other hand, have been fairly untouchable and we aren’t just saying that for the sake of it. While they’re organised at the back it’s their attacking prowess that has been able to shine through this season, which isn’t something we would’ve been expecting to say. Their six game stretch began win a 3-1 win over BATE Borisov, followed up by a decisive 4-0 demolition of Burnley. They were then able to edge their way past Derby County in the Carabao Cup before seeing off the challenge of Crystal Palace, and after another win over BATE, they had to endure a frustrating draw against Everton which proved they are human after all.

Given that these two teams first met way back in 1909 we think it’s fair to say that they’re familiar with each other’s work as we alluded to earlier on in the piece, and that argument is emphasised by the fact that Chelsea lead 68-52 in the overall head to head standings with 40 draws between them. Even with those statistics, though, it’ll be Chelsea who are looking for revenge, with Tottenham picking up a 3-1 win over the Blues back in April to send Antonio Conte further towards the exit door.

There are a few injury concerns that Tottenham will need to address prior to this one getting underway, with Davinson Sanchez’s late fitness test being one of them. He’s currently in the process of recovering from a hamstring injury and his fitness will probably be a game day decision, whereas for Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele, they’re going to be out injured for sure in this derby. Kieran Trippier is also a doubt, but when you look at the strength of the Spurs first team as a whole, they should still be fairly confident about their chances of getting some kind of result.

Mateo Kovacic, who you could argue has been a revelation since making the move over to Stamford Bridge, will be a doubt after missing Croatia’s Nations League encounter against England through injury. Ethan Ampadu is also set to miss the game but apart from that, Chelsea have a relatively clean bill of health. It’ll be interesting to see how Alvaro Morata deals with the pressure of such a tense game like this one, and if he doesn’t deal with it all too well, we wouldn’t be shocked to see former Arsenal star Olivier Giroud be called upon in the second half.

Tottenham vs Chelsea Betting Prediction

The fact that these two teams know each other extremely well isn’t really going to favour one or the other, and the fact that Spurs are ‘at home’ won’t help either – because they aren’t. They’re at Wembley, aka their temporary home. There are a lot of questions still floating around regarding what both teams are capable of, and while we think that a technical masterpiece is a distinct possibility, we’re fairly confident that some rash challenges are going to turn this into a bit of a card-friendly bloodbath.

With a game like that we think that Chelsea will be favoured, because while neither side is particularly physical, the Blues possess an odd ability to carve out a piece of magic from absolutely nowhere. We can see them scoring around the hour mark after a stalemate of a game, forcing Tottenham to come forward in search of the equaliser. Then, in the final few minutes, Chelesa will hit them with a counter attack before netting their second goal to ensure that they walk away from this one with all three points.