How do you remedy an issue like Tottenham? Ask Ange Postecoglou; he’s nonetheless working it out.
One other defeat to Bournemouth — Spurs’ sixth lack of the marketing campaign already — and similar to that, the honeymoon is over. Two weeks in the past, they thrashed Manchester Metropolis 4-0 in their very own yard, however they adopted up that consequence with two attracts in opposition to Roma and Fulham, and that efficiency in opposition to Bournemouth was as flat as they arrive. And now they’re now again to sq. one.
Their inconsistency has baffled followers and pundits. It’s a riddle as sophisticated as cracking the Da Vinci Code. Spurs higher discover an equation this weekend or they may get a hiding from an in-form Chelsea.
The Blues have to be rubbing their palms collectively forward of this London derby. They appear to have Tottenham’s variety of late after doing the double over them final season, together with a 4-1 thumping away from house.
Spurs have had 4 key gamers out injured, with first-choice centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven lacking for a while, and now Ben Davies has performed his hamstring. So Radu Dragusin might need to line up with a makeshift centre-back. Typical beginning keeper Guglielmo Vicario is out till February whereas star midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur continues to be serving his seven-match ban.
On high of all that, Spurs followers are beginning to activate Postecoglou. The fiery Australian coach had phrases with a number of followers within the away finish on the Vitality Stadium and also you perceive why they’re not glad. Tottenham have picked up seven factors from their final six league matches and entered the weekend tenth within the desk. They took Bournemouth’s greatest participant for £65million and nonetheless misplaced 1-0 to the Cherries. Make no mistake, it might have ended up being 3-0.
Chelsea, then again, have quietly zipped their method up the league desk and are actually second after eight wins, 4 attracts and two losses. Of their final three video games, they’ve scored 10 targets and let in two. Issues are clicking into place underneath Enzo Maresca after some earlier teething issues. His forwards are firing, with Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer all scoring prior to now three video games. What as soon as seemed like a collection of people cobbled collectively now seems like a cohesive, settled staff.
Nonetheless, Maresca has tried to take the strain off his facet this week by insisting they’re not within the title race regardless of being second within the desk. As an alternative, he sees Chelsea as a long-term undertaking and that, in time, his staff might “dominate” the Premier League within the subsequent 5 or 10 years. We’ll see about that, however for now, his staff have a run of very winnable fixtures. After the Spurs, they don’t face a standard top-six rival till the top of January.
To date, they’ve confronted Manchester Metropolis, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal with out tasting victory this season, however in opposition to the Spurs, it tends to be a special equation. Within the final 10 Premier League fixtures in opposition to Spurs — stretching again 5 years — they’ve solely misplaced as soon as and conceded simply six targets.
Postecoglou will hope to have Romero again for this one. He’s began coaching however continues to be uncertain for the sport this weekend. Van de Ven seems nonetheless behind in his schedule. Wilson Odobert, Richarlison and Bentancur are the long-term absentees.
Aside from Reece James and Wesley Fofana, who picked up a hamstring blow within the 3-0 win over Aston Villa final week, Chelsea have roughly a clear invoice of well being going into this derby. Maresca nonetheless might choose to shuffle issues round after the 5-1 win over Southampton on Wednesday.
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Tottenham vs Chelsea odds
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — London
Time: 4:30 p.m. GMT (11:30 a.m. ET), Sunday
Streaming (US solely): Fubo (Get entry | Save $30)
Type information (league solely)
Tottenham: 6-2-6, 20 factors (tenth); L-D-W-L-W
Chelsea: 8-4-2, 28 factors (2nd); W-W-W-D-D
Match prediction
Tottenham 1-3 Chelsea
It’s laborious to see something aside from an away win this weekend. The momentum of each groups are evening and day. One staff has harm issues galore and devoid of confidence. One other is second within the desk and scoring for enjoyable. It is a derby, so something might occur, however Chelsea’s imperious report on this fixture ought to see them by means of once more. Simply as we noticed final season when Spurs ended up with 9 males, count on crunching tackles, targets and pressure. This may very well be a cracker, however Chelsea ought to depart North London with three factors.
Extra Premier League protection
Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur: A staff making the identical errors again and again
Nicolas Jackson is Chelsea’s presser-in-chief – he has been essential to their positive begin
Premier League predicted line-ups: Who do our writers suppose will begin in Gameweek 15?
(Photograph of Future Udogie: Justin Tallis / AFP through Getty Pictures)
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