Chelsea-Tottenham is a rematch of the 26th day of the Premier League and is played Thursday at 8:30 pm: live TV, probable formations, predictions.
Stamford Bridge recovers the match that was postponed last February to allow Chelsea to play in the League Cup final at Wembley, later won by Liverpool thanks to a goal by van Dijk in the last minute of the second extra time.
Two months later, the Blues, as well as Tottenham, are hunting for heavy points to continue chasing their respective goals. Mauricio Pochettino asks way for “his” Spurs to get closer to Europe again. Chelsea, in fact, is in danger of staying out of the European cups for the second year in a row: it would be yet another flop for the London club, especially if we consider that the new ownership in the last two seasons has spared no expense to strengthen the squad. The Blues are currently ninth, -5 from seventh-placed Newcastle, which, however, has played one more match. The latest results, however, are not encouraging: Chelsea is fresh from a good draw (2-2) at home to fourth-ranked Aston Villa but a week earlier was shredded by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium (5-0). The defense concedes so many goals, and the only clean sheet since January was with Everton, annihilated 6-0 in London three weeks ago.
Spurs, what a setback
Tottenham, which is dueling with Aston Villa for fourth place and thus qualification for the next Champions League, also still has two games to make up.
Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs right now are -7 away from Unai Emery’s Villans and the feeling is that everything will depend on the outcome of two recoveries, which are really very complicated. One is the derby with Chelsea, the other the challenge with Manchester City, which is playing for the title with Arsenal. By the way, Son and his teammates are going through a peculiar period, having come off two bad defeats in a row with Newcastle (4-0) and Arsenal (2-3). Pochettino has lost Thiago Silva – season over for him – and is unlikely to recover Malo Gusto, Sterling and Chilwell. On the other side, the former manager, Timo Werner, who was injured in the derby with Arsenal, could forfeit.
The prediction
Both Chelsea and Tottenham are in no position to make any calculations. A point, in fact, would serve little purpose. There is therefore a real possibility of witnessing a very prolific challenge, between two teams that, after all, concede and score plenty of goals. As for the final result, we would spend a token on the Blues, as Stamford Bridge has been a taboo for Spurs lately: only one win in the last 37 games.
The likely Chelsea-Tottenham lineups
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Chalobah, Disasi, Badiashile, Cucurella; Caicedo, Gallagher; Madueke, Palmer, Mudryk; Jackson.
TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Vicario; Pedro Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Emerson Royal; Sarr, Bissouma; Kulusevski, Maddison, Son; Richarlison.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-2
