Team
news, key stats and ways to follow ahead of Chelsea vs Tottenham on Saturday
(12.30pm kick-off).
Team news
Chelsea will be without midfielder N'Golo Kante for Saturday's crucial clash
with top-four rivals Tottenham.
The France international picked up an abductor injury in the Blues' defeat
to Manchester United on Monday and is expected to be out for three weeks.
Chelsea have been boosted by the return of Tammy Abraham and Ruben
Loftus-Cheek, but Andreas Christensen, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian
Pulisic remain doubtful.
Tottenham could call upon Erik Lamela or Tanguy Ndombele from the start at
Stamford Bride after the midfielders made their respective returns from
injury from the bench against RB Leipzig.
With Heung-Min Son (arm) joining Harry Kane (hamstring) on Spurs lengthy
injury list, Jose Mourinho faces a selection dilemma in attack. Moussa
Sissoko (knee) and Juan Foyth (groin) are out.
Opta stats
Chelsea have won their last two Premier League games against Tottenham, last
winning three in a row in March 2006, when they were managed by current
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho.
Tottenham have won just one of their last 33 away games against Chelsea in
all competitions (D11 L21), a 3-1 win in April 2018 in a Premier League
fixture.
The away side has won three of the last five Premier League meetings between
Chelsea and Spurs (L2), with that occurring just once in the previous 23
games (W1 D9 L13).
Chelsea have lost seven home games in all competitions this season - they
last lost more at Stamford Bridge in a single campaign back in 1985-86 (8).
Chelsea are winless in four Premier League games (D2 L2), last having a
longer such run in the competition between October-December 2012 (7 games).
Charlie's prediction
This is a massive game in the context of the top four. The serious interest
is at the bottom, but the potentials for the top four is phenomenal. The
fascination is Chelsea's home form, which has been awful. The youngsters
have come out of the picture a bit, and it was always going to be an
up-and-down season.
Tottenham were patting themselves on the back after their match against RB
Leipzig. But why? They turned up for 15-20 minutes. Heung-Min Son is now
injured, so what is their out ball? Lucas Moura played on the shoulder when
he was scoring, so he could get in behind. But he does not link the play up;
that is not his game. You can already see why they miss Christian Eriksen.
They did get some fabulous money for him but you can see the difference in
where Tottenham are going.
Chelsea and Tottenham do not like each other one bit, and it's Lampard
against Mourinho. I am expecting there to be major discipline issues here;
it will be a tense and aggressive affair. I am struggling to separate these
two as you do not know what will you get off them. I would play Olivier
Giroud, not Michy Batshuayi, and see how you go for 65-70 minutes. They need
an out-ball to get up the pitch. That is my point regarding Moura -
Tottenham need to be able to get out.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 2-1 (15/2 with Sky Bet)
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