Frank Lampard’s Chelsea welcome Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur to Stamford Bridge in a blockbuster Super Sunday clash.
Victory for Chelsea would send them top on goal difference from Liverpool whilst a win for Tottenham could see them return to the Premier League summit and open a five point gap to their cross-London rivals.
Team News
Christian Pulisic is set to return for Chelsea after a month out with a hamstring injury suffered during warm-up ahead of their win at Burnley on Halloween.
Tottenham could welcome Hugo Lloris, Giovani Lo Celso and Steven Bergwijn back into the starting lineup after all three missed Thursday’s Europa League win over Ludogorets Razgrad with various knocks.
Son Heung-min, Harry Kane and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg could also return after being named as unused substitutes on Thursday but Erik Lamela (foot) and Toby Alderweireld (adductor) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea are unbeaten in four of their last five meetings against Tottenham in all competitions (W4, L1).
- Tottenham have won just one of their last 12 league trips to Chelsea (W1, D4, L7).
- Chelsea have scored in each of their last six league clashes against Spurs since losing 2-0 in January 2017 at Spurs’ old White Hart Lane.
- Two of Harry Kane’s seven league goals for Spurs have come from headers.
- No team has played more passes in the opening nine matchweeks this season than Chelsea with 5,814 passes.
Prediction
Chelsea were simply brilliant from the first whistle at Newcastle last week instead of their usual slow starts which we have often seen this season but given the quality in Spurs, I have a feeling that Frank Lampard’s Blues could revert to form and make a slow start before hitting their stride once are able to assert dominance.
Spurs meanwhile produced a masterclass in soaking up pressure against Man City before switching to a more attack minded style against Ludogorets which involved confidently playing out from the back, so it is difficult to foresee which approach Jose Mourinho will deploy here unless he goes for his beloved ‘Park the Bus’ approach which would be fitting of a London derby.
Either way, this should be a good competitive clash with both teams capable of easily winning this but I can see the spoils somehow being shared apiece.
Prediction: Chelsea 1-1 Tottenham
Result: Chelsea 0-0 Tottenham