Chris Sutton expects Chelsea to beat Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening
Tottenham Hotspur resume their Premier League duties with a trip across the capital to face rivals Chelsea on Thursday evening.
Spurs have had a season to forget, as a whole, languishing in the bottom half of the table for months now. The Premier League campaign is already a write-off heading into the business end, which makes winning the Europa League extremely vital to not only just salvage the season but also bring back Champions League nights to North London.
However, Ange Postecoglou’s side still needs to navigate several tricky Premier League fixtures, which barely hold any tangible meaning beyond pride. The Lilywhites headed into the March international break on the back of a listless defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage, so Ange Postecoglou will expect a rousing response from his boys against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have been average since the turn of the year. Following Manchester City and Newcastle United’s midweek wins, the Blues have dropped to sixth in the Premier League table. Once considered among favourites to qualify for the top four, they now face an uphill battle to seal a Champions League spot, which makes a must-win fixture for the hosts.
Tottenham players will be eager to avenge their home loss against Chelsea
BBC Sports pundit Chris Sutton has now dropped his prediction for the Chelsea vs Tottenham game. He has predicted a thrilling encounter between the bitter London rivals, with the home side edging 3-2.
“This is a great game to finish the week off. It ended up 4-3 to Chelsea earlier in the season, and there are likely to be a few more goals this time too,” Chris Sutton made his prediction on BBC Sport.
“Chelsea have people like Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke back from injury to bolster their attack, but Spurs have got some key players like Micky van de Ven fit again too.
“Tottenham’s league campaign has been disappointing – it is winning the Europa League or bust for them – while Chelsea are still chasing the Champions League places.
“Spurs looked tired to me before the international break, so it will be interesting to see what they are like here. We know how exciting they can be on their day, it is just those days have been few and far between this season.
“Chelsea have been a bit flat as well, but maybe this is the game where both teams come to life and serve up a thriller – that is what I am hoping for anyway.”
Ange Postecoglou will want his boys to bounce back against Chelsea
Ange dropped a positive injury update of his squad on Thursday evening. Richarlison has been training since last week but is not ready for the trip to Chelsea, whereas Kevin Danso and Dejan Kulusevski are progressing well on their respective injury condition.
Cristian Romero gained some valuable minutes on international duty and returned to the club unscathed, so he’d be expected to marshal the troops from the back on Thursday evening. It will be interesting to see who partners Romero in central defence.
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It is expected to be an end-to-end game in West London. Ange has to go with a plan and try exploiting Chelsea’s weaknesses, especially in defence. Our forwards such as Son Heung-min, Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson have to be clinical in front of goal. A win over Maresca’s side would give us a lot of confidence ahead of the Europa League quarter-final tie with Eintracht Frankfurt next week.