Tottenham’s inconsistency has left them with no win in their last three games across all competitions and Thursday’s defeat at Bournemouth has once again heaped pressure on the shoulders of manager Ange Postecoglou.
By Dan Tracey
There’s no such weight on the shoulders of Chelsea counterpart Enzo Maresca and after an emphatic victory at Southampton, on Wednesday, the Blues may just have been thrust into this season’s Premier League title race.
The Form Guide
Tottenham have won just two of their last six league matches and have picked up only seven points from the last 18 on offer. Due to that defeat at Bournemouth, they start the weekend lying tenth but could find themselves in the bottom half of the table before Sunday’s game begins.
As for opponents Chelsea, they make the short trip across the capital having not only won each of their last three league outings but also unbeaten in each of their last six – a run of form that sees them sit second in the table with a seven-point deficit between Liverpool and themselves (at the time of writing, before Saturday’s games).
Who Are The Key Players
If Tottenham have key players, they have struggled to unlock their talents over the course of the past seven days and although Dominic Solanke made his return against Bournemouth on Thursday, the club’s record signing will need to add to his current return of four league goals as soon as possible.
Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson have been the stand out men in Chelsea’s mammoth squad (although Christopher Nkunku is on a rich run of goalscoring form as well). The aforementioned Palmer and Jackson have scored 17 league goals between them this season and the former has also had time to make three league goals for the latter.
Injury crisis in the Spurs defence
The Tottenham treatment room is looking rather busy at present and with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero already absent, Ben Davies’ injury against Bournemouth means that Ange Postecoglou has just one senior centre back available for the visit of Chelsea on Sunday (Radu Drăgușin).
Chelsea have their own defensive injury issues with both Wesley Fofana and Reece James out until the end of the year at the earliest but with these two already being considered as long-term absentees, there are no new concerns to trouble manager Maresca.
Prediction
Although Tottenham are more than capable of turning it on against the teams that are perceived as the biggest outfits in the Premier League, their showing against Bournemouth on Thursday suggests that a good performance on Sunday is not as simple as flicking the switch back to on.
Especially as the visitors will be keen to continue their positive momentum. Last season’s clash in North London saw the first real cracks in Postecoglou’s methods, the same outcome on Sunday could turn those cracks into a chasm.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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