please log in to view this image Saturday 24th November 5.30pm Premier League Wembley Stadium The final international break of the year is over and the schedule is heating up. The weather is doing the opposite, so wrap up well for our latest game at Wembley, as it'll be bloody freezing. It's Mauricio v Maurizio and Sarri has his first taste of a derby game between the two clubs. Napoli, Empoli and Perugia don't have any local rivals, so it might be a strange experience for him. Will we be able to take advantage and break their unbeaten streak? Chelsea started the campaign with a new man at the helm, despite Antonio Conte winning the FA Cup. A 5th place finish wasn't deemed good enough, so one Italian replaced another. Maurizio Sarri had lead Napoli to 2nd place in Serie A, but his 91 point total wasn't enough and he was out. Carlo Ancelotti replaced him and Chelsea's Italian merry-go-round was complete. All rather incestuous and odd, but it seems to work, I guess. Stamford Bridge has seen an immediate impact from it's new, chain-smoking coach. They've had 8 wins and 4 draws in the league, plus another four victories in an admittedly easy Europa League group. Two tricky League Cup ties have also been overcome, as they dispatched Liverpool and Frank Lampard's Derby™. Everybody's talking about City being chased by Liverpool, but they're definitely in the mix. Sarri's style is substantially more attack-minded than his predecessor, but he didn't sign a lot of players. Those he did bring in were extremely expensive, though. Jorginho followed him from Napoli for £51m, while Kepa Arrizabalaga replace Courtois for £72m. The Italian midfielder is key to their new style, as he plays a deep role making hundreds of passes. Mateo Kovacic also joined from Real Madrid on loan, adding quality and depth. This fixture was our opener at Wembley in the last campaign and it didn't go to plan. The talk of a curse was at a high, as we dominated possession and territory, but couldn't make the chances count. Chelsea took the lead with their first shot on target, as Alonso dispatched a free-kick in the 24th minute. Numerous opportunities were spurned before a Batshuayi own goal leveled the scoring in the 88th. It was all for nothing though, as Chelsea and Alonso's 2nd shot on target went under Lloris' body in injury time: The reverse saw more talk of curses, but this time it was of one being broken. It had been 28 years since our last win at Stamford Bridge and Harry Kane was out injured, too. The signs were looking ominous when Alvaro Morata headed them into the lead in the first half. Christian Eriksen's strike just before the break lightened the mood and leveled the score. A Dele Alli double took the points and put us 8 points ahead of them with 7 games left: Dembele, Rose, Sanchez and Trippier are unavailable due to injury, but Vertonghen has returned to full training. Chelsea have van Ginkel and Blackman out, but it's unlikely that either would have featured if fit. Neither side has any suspensions. Spurs: Lloris; Trippier, Foyth, Alderweireld, Davies; Sissoko, Wanyama; Lamela, Alli, Moura; Kane. Subs: Gazzaniga, Aurier, Dier, Winks, Eriksen, Son, Llorente. League form: WWWLWW. Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso; Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic; Willian, Morata, Hazard. Subs: Caballero, Zappacosta, Christensen, Fabregas, Barkley, Pedro, Giroud. League form: DWDWWD. Referee: Martin Atkinson. TV: BT Sport 1. Should the international break have any influence on our team selection for this one? Should we do anything different to our normal game in order to try and put Chelsea off their stride? Is there anyone that you would like to see promoted to the bench or left out of the squad completely?
**** load of injuries (as per!). Hugo Aurier, Toby, Jan, Davies Dier, Sissoko Lucas, Eriksen, Dele Kane Huge risk starting Jan but as good as Foyth's been, I think putting him in against Chelsea could be a bit too much for him at the moment. EDIT: Would've had Lamela in for Alli seeing as the latter's still on the mend but Coco only got back this morning/ last night so unsure how jaded he may be for Saturday.
GOOD NEWS - A guarantee of no Trippier brainfarts - A guarantee that we won't feel sad watching Dembele's dessicated husk - The knowledge that, in spite of the setbacks, we're still better at building a new stadium than they are BAD NEWS - Sanchez is out injured - Martin Twatkinson's the ref - You can predict Aurier scything down the fresh air eight inches to Hazard's right leading to a penalty - Did I mention Martin Twatkinson is the ref? - Chav fans bleating about Twatkinson's "bias" against them guarantees he'll give at least one offside goal - I'm not sure if I made any reference to Martin Twatkinson being the referee for this match - The Wembley pitch resembling The Somme - I hear that Martin Twatkinson will be taking charge for this game
Spurs and Chelsea both have a 100% record under Martin Atkinson this season. He was the ref for their 3-2 win over Arsenal and our victories at Newcastle and West Ham. Neither side won a league match with him in charge last season, though. He sent off Sanchez in our 1-1 draw at Watford, while Chelsea lost to City, Utd and Newcastle. He also had two of their cup games, the 0-0 semi-final League Cup first leg draw with Arsenal and a 2-0 FA Cup win against Southampton.
Happy with this. Dele looked much more like his old self against Croatia and with another weeks recovery I’m hoping for a significant contribution. Coco on the bench with Sonny is a great backup plan. Chavs have looked impressive lately and I would happily take a draw.
The great thing about this game is this. At least one of the teams who have as many points now as Utd will have in January must drop points. Expecting a draw, but I'd like to see Chelsea lose. In fact I just want to see a good game when it's crap on telly.
I hope I’m wrong, but I think their midfield might just be too good for us. I’d set up defensively in midfield and try to whack em on the break.
No more international breaks I would prefer the season shortened by a month and all the internationals played in one period. Constant stop starting the season is about the most annoying way to do it.
Last week, it was 40 years ago that this image was taken of Spurs fans in The North Bank, Stamford Bridge. Chelsea v Tottenham, 18 November 1978. please log in to view this image If you were there, you'll remember it. I was at this game and I'm struggling to think of a more hostile and violent atmosphere at any game. They tried to lock us in after the game and we tore the enormous main doors down to get out. It was mayhem before, during and after. I tell my kids about what went on and they can scarcely believe it. We won 3-1 but I hardly remember the game. I think Colin Lee got 2 (both headers?) and Glen scored a fabulous free kick, all at our end. We were losing at half time. After the mayhem subsided, I bought a London Evening News and the match report, written almost entirely at half time, told of Chelsea winning the game. The last sentence then said we scored 3 in the second half and named the scorers. 40 years ago and a different life...
I don't know, have you watched MOTD in the last decade? They regularly edit out anything that certain teams do other than their goals...
I wasn't thinking of games against Southern Hemisphere teams do we not leave that to world cups? I was thinking of the PL taking a winter break the same as other European countries and using that to play Internationals.
