(Football news) These two teams were involved in an enthralling seven-goal thriller in North London almost four months ago when Chelsea came out on top by a 4-3 scoreline.
Chelsea’s four-game winning run across all competitions was brought to an end before the international break as Tottenham’s North London rivals Arsenal beat the Blues 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium on March 16.
Mikel Merino’s first-half header condemned Chelsea to their third Premier League defeat in five matches and Enzo Maresca’s side have now slipped to sixth in the table, two points behind Manchester City in fourth and one point behind Newcastle United in fifth following wins for both clubs on Wednesday, while Brentford down in 11th are only eight points behind the Blues who have nine games still left to play.
Chelsea, who are seeking to avoid a third successive campaign finishing outside the Premier League’s top five, still have plenty of work to do in the hotly-contested battle to secure Champions League football for next season and are now preparing for three top-flight fixtures against bottom-half opposition, as well as their two-legged Conference League quarter-final tie with Legia Warsaw later this month.
The West Londoners will welcome a return to Stamford Bridge where they have won each of their last four Premier League games, keeping a clean sheet in their last two against Southampton (4-0) and Leicester (1-0) – only once in the last five seasons have Chelsea won three home matches in a row without conceding, doing so from April to May 2024 in a run that included a 2-0 win over Spurs.
Chelsea will fancy their chances of success on Thursday, as they have won more PL games (36) and scored more PL goals (120) against Tottenham than they have versus any other opponent. In fact, only three teams have scored more goals against a side in the division than the 120 Chelsea have netted against Spurs (Arsenal vs. Everton, Manchester United vs. Everton, Liverpool vs. Newcastle – all 124).
Like Chelsea, Tottenham were unable to claim maximum points in their final game before the international break and instead suffered their 15th Premier League defeat of the season at the hands of Fulham.
Second-half strikes from Rodrigo Muniz and ex-Spurs man Ryan Sessegnon condemned the Lilywhites to a 2-0 defeat at Craven Cottage, leaving them languishing in 14th place in the Premier League table and 10 points behind the top half.
Europa League glory is seemingly the only saving grace for Ange Postecoglou, whose Tottenham future has come under the microscope once again following an “unacceptable” loss at Fulham. He is now facing unwanted history, as defeat at Chelsea on Thursday would see the Greek-Australian become the first-ever Spurs manager to lose his first four league meetings against the Blues.
No team has earned fewer Premier League points in London derbies this season than Tottenham (10, level with Brentford), who have lost five out of nine such matches (W3 D1). Only in 1987-88, 1989-90, 2003-04 (all six) and 2004-05 (seven) have Spurs ever suffered more London derby defeats in a league campaign.
Tottenham are bidding to win their first game at Stamford Bridge since a 3-1 success in April 2018, but they head into Thursday’s contest having lost eight of their 14 top-flight away matches this term, with only Leicester (11) and Southampton (12) having lost more – not since 2008-09 have the Lilywhites suffered more away defeats in a single league season (11).
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