If Tottenham Hotspur are going to take anything away from their game against Chelsea this weekend, they are going to have to stop Xabi Alonso’s phenomenal attack. Easier said than done.
Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro have been on fire this season. Going forward, Chelsea as a whole have delivered.
Their only blank so far has come in the 3-0 defeat to Brentford before the international break, and Pedro did not even play that night. There is no doubt that Roberto De Zerbi will be concerned about that forward line, all of whom have all scored against Tottenham before.
Rogers’ record is particularly impressive. In total, the attacking midfielder has faced Tottenham seven times, although one of those games he was an unused substitute. He has scored four goals and provided two assists, which is quite impressive.
With the form that Rogers is in, you would back him to score past Spurs again this weekend. This season, the 24-year-old has netted four times in seven outings.
Rogers failed to score against Everton on Saturday, but he was heavily involved in Chelsea’s opening goal. On the left flank, the England international used his strength to hold the ball like a centre-forward before playing a clever backheel pass into Jorrel Hato.
Hato then bombed forward before his deflected ball found its way to Pedro Neto, who calmly converted to give Chelsea the lead. That is the kind of threat Spurs are going to have to deal with at Stamford Bridge.
They will also have to try to penetrate an ever-improving defence. After keeping their first clean sheet since January, Jordan Henderson lauded Chelsea’s defending against Everton, which was a vast improvement on what supporters have seen in most of the team’s other games this season.
Chelsea fans will feel confident heading into this match, especially with Rogers and his record.