Tottenham Hotspur will welcome in-form Chelsea to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Sunday for their fifth PL game of the season.
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Key Statistics
Tottenham have won seven of their last eight home matches (L1).
They are without a win against Chelsea in seven competitive matches.
Chelsea are unbeaten in their last games.
They have kept two clean sheets in their last six PL games.
Head to head
Chelsea have the upper hand in matches with Tottenham, as they have won five of the last eight competitive matches between them.
Latest Performances
Tottenham: D-L-W-W-W
Chelsea: W-W-D-W-W
Tottenham Hotspur
After their exertions in the Europe Conference League, Tottenham will look to get their Premier League campaign back on track when they welcome rival Chelsea to their home stadium.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are playing their second London derby in a row after facing Crystal Palace in their last PL game. After a strong start to the season, they have struggled recently and were beaten by Palace in their last PL outing.
The home team also struggled against Rennes in the ECL and were lucky to pick up a draw in France.
Without a win in their last two games, the coach is being questioned by some section of the fan base. Any further losses will mean that pressure will mount on Santo so early in his Spurs career.
He will look to avoid that and put up a strong fight in this game. He will also want to give his side some bragging rights in the city and win his side’s first central London derby since January 2019.
However, the home side will be without the services of Japeth Tanganga, who picked up a red card in their last game with Palace. Eric Dier and Son Heung Min are injury doubts. But Giovani Lo Celso, Davinson Sanchez and Cristián Romero are all expected to return to the side after quarantining.
Possible Tottenham line-ups
Hugo Lloris, Emerson Royal, Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, Sergio Reguilon, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Harry Winks, Dele Alli, Lucas Moura, Harry Kane, Lo Celso.
Chelsea
Chelsea will face their London rivals on the back of a hard-fought win over Zenit in the Champions League.
The Blues have been one of the standout performers this season and are entering this game level on points at the top of the table with Manchester United.
This season, they are unbeaten in the league and are alongside Liverpool, the side with the least number of goals, having conceded only one goal.
With a squad full of world-class talents, Thomas Tuchel’s side have been placed as one of the favourites to take the title off Manchester City this season. They will look to show their title credentials in this game and show to the rest of the league that they mean business this season.
But they are likely to play this game without the services of N’golo Kante and Christian Pulisic, who are all out with ankle injuries.
Possible Chelsea line-ups
Edouard Mendy, Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, Ben Chilwell, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Romelu Lukaku.
Prediction
Tottenham showed against Manchester City early in the season that they have the tools and the heart to win against teams with superior quality.
But they have struggled in their last two games while Chelsea have gone from strength to strength.
Considering the nature of both teams, this promises to be a tight game that will be decided by moments of brilliance or marginal errors. However, overall, Chelsea look the most likely to win.
