If there is such a thing as a ‘Wembley curse’ that afflicts Tottenham, then Chelsea have played no small part in their misery over the years.
The two sides have met three times at the national stadium in the last five years, twice for the FA Cup semi-final and once for a League Cup final. The Blues have emerged victorious on each of those occasions.
Fortunately, Mauricio Pochettino’s tendency is always to look only as far as the next game. And for Antonio Conte, this almost has the feeling of a cup final.
The Italian will be without Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas, both of whom were sent off in the shock 3-2 defeat to Burnley in their season opener. Conte has been let down by two players in the positions where Chelsea are going to be most vulnerable, only strengthening his argument that he needs a few more signings before the end of August.
This will be the first real opportunity for Antonio Rudiger to prove whether he is good enough for a regular starting berth. The major positive is that he looks like a leader, which could be important in Cahill’s absence.
Chelsea’s fate could well depend on whether Eden Hazard can prove his fitness in time, though it’s likely he’ll only start on the bench. The Belgian positively revels in playing against their London rivals and his potential return would be a huge boost – as would a debut for Tiemoue Bakayoko, who is also close to being recovered. Both are thought to be outside chances.
The central midfield positions will be key. Whoever does partner N’Golo Kante will come up against the brick wall duo of Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele, who can dominate. If they can get past them, Chelsea’s attacking midfielders will be looking to exploit Spurs in the full-back positions, as either Kieran Trippier or Kyle Walker-Peters will feature at right-back, with Ben Davies on the left.
Stopping Alvaro Morata will be another concern for Pochettino. The record signing scored and provided an assist against Burnley and will presumably start ahead of Michy Batshuayi this time around. Harry Kane can usually be relied upon at the other end, but he has still never scored a Premier League goal in August and takes a while to get going in the new season.
In the 2-0 win over Newcastle, Spurs were not at their scintillating best, yet they still played some lovely football. If Chelsea hope to stop them, they need to focus their attentions on Christian Eriksen. The playmaker is what makes the Lilywhites’ midfield tick and the finesse he showed at St James’ Park summed up why he is being mentioned in the same breath as players like Philippe Coutinho and Paulo Dybala as potential Barcelona targets.
Neither Chelsea nor Spurs are at full strength. Their respective rogues Diego Costa and Danny Rose will play no part, though that’s partly because the latter is injured. Rarely have Tottenham gone into this fixture as comfortable favourites, but they are under far less pressure than the champions, who will definitely have entered crisis mode if they suffer another loss.
