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Preview: Spurs and Chelsea meet in London Derby

Preview: Spurs and Chelsea meet in London Derby

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Bitter London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea meet in this weekend’s headline Premier League fixture, with three points and six places between them.

By Neel Shelat

Chelsea eyeing a fifth consecutive win over Spurs

Chelsea are the more successful team in the history of this fixture with a record of 79 wins, 42 draws and 53 losses overall. The Blues have taken all three points in the majority of their Premier League meetings, winning 37 of 66. They certainly are enjoying a good spell at the moment, having done the double over their rivals in each of the last two seasons.

Recent H2H record

The Blues’ last five-match winning streak in the league over Spurs came right after the turn of the millennium, and was capped off with a sixth victory thanks to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s hat-trick in March 2002.

Red cards continue to plague the Blues

Chelsea will naturally hope to see one of their forwards step up big time in this game, but all signs seem to suggest that is pretty unlikely. None of their attackers have more than two league goals this season, Cole Palmer is set to remain unavailable due to his groin injury, and to top it all off, lead striker Liam Delap is suspended after getting sent off in the dramatic midweek EFL Cup tie against Wolves.

That was the fifth time in just the last nine matches that Enzo Maresca’s side have gone down to 10 players. The Italian coach will have an important job to do to ensure that his youthful squad keep their heads in this heated fixture.

Tottenham almost missing an entire XI

Tottenham Hotspur certainly won’t share any sympathy for their opponents’ absences given the length of their own injury list. Guglielmo Vicario is expected to be back for this match, but an entire line-up’s worth of outfielders are unavailable. The defensive department is the worst hit as Cristian Romero, Radu Drăgușin, Kota Takai, Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies are all on the treatment table. Archie Gray could join Yves Bissouma in the injured XI’s midfield, while chief creators James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski are there to support lead striker Dominic Solanke.

Set-pieces set to be key

Capital clubs are leading the way in the Premier League’s dead-ball revolution. Leaders Arsenal also top the charts in terms of goals scored from set-pieces with nine in as many games. Chelsea are right behind them with eight (three of which came thanks to the charitable West Ham defence), while Spurs round out the podium with five. The last time Thomas Frank’s side scored a game-state-altering open play goal was almost a month ago against Leeds United.

At the other end of the pitch, Tottenham have been quite solid in all respects. They have conceded just once from dead-ball situations in the league this term, while Chelsea have let in four. The Blues’ xG conceded tally in this regard is even higher at 6.10, which is the worst in the division. Spurs will surely look to take advantage of this potential mismatch.

Prediction

Both sides have just two wins in their last six league games and have generally struggled for cohesion in their attacking performances, so a cagey and feisty battle is to be expected. Multiple goals going in would be a pleasant surprise.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Preview: Spurs and Chelsea meet in London Derby

Bitter London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea meet in this weekend’s headline Premier League fixture, with three points and six places between them.

By Neel Shelat

Chelsea eyeing a fifth consecutive win over Spurs

Chelsea are the more successful team in the history of this fixture with a record of 79 wins, 42 draws and 53 losses overall. The Blues have taken all three points in the majority of their Premier League meetings, winning 37 of 66. They certainly are enjoying a good spell at the moment, having done the double over their rivals in each of the last two seasons.

Recent H2H record

The Blues’ last five-match winning streak in the league over Spurs came right after the turn of the millennium, and was capped off with a sixth victory thanks to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s hat-trick in March 2002.

Red cards continue to plague the Blues

Chelsea will naturally hope to see one of their forwards step up big time in this game, but all signs seem to suggest that is pretty unlikely. None of their attackers have more than two league goals this season, Cole Palmer is set to remain unavailable due to his groin injury, and to top it all off, lead striker Liam Delap is suspended after getting sent off in the dramatic midweek EFL Cup tie against Wolves.

That was the fifth time in just the last nine matches that Enzo Maresca’s side have gone down to 10 players. The Italian coach will have an important job to do to ensure that his youthful squad keep their heads in this heated fixture.

Tottenham almost missing an entire XI

Tottenham Hotspur certainly won’t share any sympathy for their opponents’ absences given the length of their own injury list. Guglielmo Vicario is expected to be back for this match, but an entire line-up’s worth of outfielders are unavailable. The defensive department is the worst hit as Cristian Romero, Radu Drăgușin, Kota Takai, Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies are all on the treatment table. Archie Gray could join Yves Bissouma in the injured XI’s midfield, while chief creators James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski are there to support lead striker Dominic Solanke.

Set-pieces set to be key

Capital clubs are leading the way in the Premier League’s dead-ball revolution. Leaders Arsenal also top the charts in terms of goals scored from set-pieces with nine in as many games. Chelsea are right behind them with eight (three of which came thanks to the charitable West Ham defence), while Spurs round out the podium with five. The last time Thomas Frank’s side scored a game-state-altering open play goal was almost a month ago against Leeds United.

At the other end of the pitch, Tottenham have been quite solid in all respects. They have conceded just once from dead-ball situations in the league this term, while Chelsea have let in four. The Blues’ xG conceded tally in this regard is even higher at 6.10, which is the worst in the division. Spurs will surely look to take advantage of this potential mismatch.

Prediction

Both sides have just two wins in their last six league games and have generally struggled for cohesion in their attacking performances, so a cagey and feisty battle is to be expected. Multiple goals going in would be a pleasant surprise.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.