A massive London derby beckons this Sunday’s Premier League action as Tottenham Hotspur will attempt to extend their top flight’s longest current unbeaten run to 13 matches against struggling premier league champions.
Tottenham are rolling along on a brilliant run of form at the moment having remained unbeaten since the opening weekend of the new season. Chelsea have been fading in and out and of form and they still are not looking anywhere near their best.
Spurs will have to shrug off a six-and-a-half-hour flight from Baku following Thursday’s win at Qarabag in their Europa League.
Harry Kane fired Tottenham into the knockout stages of the Europa League as they finally overcame a stubborn display from Group J’s bottom side, Qarabag.
The England striker, a surprise inclusion in the starting lineup with Spurs facing Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday, nodded in the winner with 12 minutes remaining.
There was little sympathy from Chelsea’s boss, Jose Mourinho for their plight, the Portuguese has serious injuries problems with team captain John Terry and Ramires after both players picked up injuries during Chelsea emphatic 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel on Tuesday night with goals from Gary Cahill, Willian, Oscar and Kurt Zouma.
Ahead of Sunday’s trip to White Hart Lane in the Premier League this weekend, Mourinho is hoping his boys gets the vital win and move up on the table.
Mourinho is optimistic Terry will be fit for Sunday’s London derby against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
Mourinho also confirmed that Radamel Falcao will be out of the game, but Cesc Fabregas could be fit to line up on Sunday lunchtime.
Despite back-to-back wins in all competitions there is a long way to go for Chelsea to fix their poor start to the season, as they currently lie in 15th place, 12 points behind the top four and 10 points behind their opponents for the weekend, making this weekend a crucial game for Mourinho’s side.
“We need points the same way we needed them last season. At this moment we are far from the European positions,” Mourinho said.
“Every point can make a difference. We’ve lost so many points already, now we have to fight for them even more.
“Our only goal now is to try to get into position where we can smell the top end of the league.
“We can believe that in the second part of the season, we will be in the top positions”
Key Stats – Tottenham v. Chelsea
Spurs have snapped a nine-match winless streak against Chelsea by hammering the Blues in their last league meeting back on January 1st, 2015.
The Blues have taken just one victory at White Hart Lane on their last nine Premier League trips there, losing four.
Spurs goal poacher, Harry Kane, is in great scoring form with seven in this last four league matches.
Tottenham are defending a good home record in the Premier, having lost just two of their last twenty home fixtures in the top flight.
Chelsea have only scored three goals in their last four league outings
Verdict
It is twelve-match unbeaten streak in the Premier League that Spurs are running at the moment. They have won three of their last four and the goals are starting to really flow nicely for them.
Tottenham have netted thirteen goals in their last four games and that is the scoring power that their rivals Chelsea can only dream about at the moment. Spurs are controlling games very well with possession and tearing opponents apart with creativity.
There is a lot to enjoy from Spurs at the moment and Kane is favourite for the match having scored seven goals from his last four Premier League appearances. That’s a man in form.
Chelsea on their part narrowly got a win over Norwich last weekend to end their three-match losing streak. But nothing big have been seen in Chelsea from them going forward in open play and their best chance of scoring looks to be from set pieces. Diego Costa is struggling to score goals while Eden Hazard has netted in each of his last three league games against the Lilywhites. So Chelsea have taken just one win away from their last nine league games at White Hart Lane (W1 D4 L4) and given their current form, they are hard to trust. The Blues have won just two of their last seven league games and are winless in their last four on the road, claiming just one point in that sequence.
Things are not right with Chelsea. There are still major issues at the back and they don’t carry a big threat going forward at the moment. Spurs are playing good football at the moment and could have an edge over Chelsea.
Anthony Nlebem
