Top of the league Chelsea face a surging Spurs side at White Hart Lane
Just shy of a month ago Chelsea dismantled Tottenham at Stamford Bridge 3-0, handing Mauricio Pochettino's team a heavy-handed reminder of Spurs' place in the Premier League pecking order.
Rather than allowing that defeat to derail their progress, Spurs instead went on a five match unbeaten run that culminated in Sunday's scoreless draw against Manchester United. In fact, that Chelsea defeat is the only loss suffered by Spurs since November 9th, a run of eight matches that includes five wins and two draws. The general consensus is that Tottenham has begun to figure things out under first-year head coach Pochettino, but now they will have a chance to prove just how far they've come against the Blues.
Jose Mourinho's side is coming off a lackluster performance on Sunday that saw the Blues drop points in a 1-1 draw with Southampton. The last time the Blues played poorly and dropped points -- on November 29th against Sunderland -- they recovered with a convincing defeat of, you guessed it, Tottenham. There's no doubt that Mourinho will be demanding a similar positive response from his players on New Year's Day.
Neither team is dealing with major injury problems at the moment. Spurs defender Younès Kaboul is doubtful with a hip injury, though considering Federico Fazio has started the last eight league matches over Kaboul, he'd lost his starting job anyway awhile ago.
Chelsea could be without midfielder Oscar who is suffering from an illness. The Brazilian missed Sunday's draw against the Saints as well.
Tottenham injuries and suspensions
In Doubt: Younès Kaboul (hip).
Chelsea injuries and suspensions
In Doubt: Oscar (illness)
Match Date/Time: Thursday, 6:30 p.m. local, 1:30 p.m. ET
Venue: White Hart Lane, London, England
TV: NBCSN (U.S. - English), Telemundo (U.S. - Spanish), TSN/RDS (Canada), BT Sport 1 (U.K.)
Online: NBC Live Extra, Deportes Telemundo En Vivo Extra (U.S.)
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1CUWiN9
No comments:
Post a Comment