Chelsea vs Spurs Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man & Predicted Score

Tottenham Hotspur welcome London rivals Chelsea to White Hart Lane for Saturday’s early kick-off.

Spurs head into the weekend fixtures sitting second on goal difference from Arsenal after last Sunday’s last gasp 1-0 win over Cardiff, so will be hoping to put some pressure on the Gunners with a win ahead of their trip to Swansea later in the day.

Andre Villas-Boas side eased into the fourth round of the League Cup in midweek with a 4-0 win over Aston Villa to continue their excellent start to the new season.

Chelsea on the other hand ended a run of four games without a win with back-to-back 2-0 victories over Fulham and Swindon Town, and the west Londoners came move top with a win at the Lane on Saturday.

The game has some added spice with Mourinho facing off against his former protege, Andre Villas-Boas. The pair worked together at Chelsea and Inter Milan but their relationship has soured in recent years and the two men had some choice words for each other heading into this fixture so we could see some fireworks on the touchline!

Team News

Andre Villas-Boas made several changes to his team that went on to thrashed Aston Villa in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night so a number of players are likely to come back in this weekend.

The likes of Hugo Lloris, Michael Dawson, Mousa Dembele, Christian Eriksen, Andros Townsend, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Roberto Soldado are all pushing for recalls after being left out of the starting line-up in midweek.

Soldado’s replacement on Tuesday, Jermain Defoe, staked a claim to keep his place with a well taken brace, but Villas-Boas seems to prefer the Spaniard in attack so we expect him to come back in.

AVB confirmed the good news on Thursday that left-back Danny Rose has a 90% chance of facing Chelsea. Younes Kaboul, Aaron Lennon and Etienne Capoue remain out though.

Chelsea are sweating on the fitness of midfielder Ramires, who was forced off against Swindon with a hip injury. Mourinho said today he was hopeful the Brazilian could be in the squad but he hasn’t trained so a start is unlikely.

The Blues are also expected to recall their big-guns with Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry,  Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and Oscar are expected to be recalled against Spurs.

Fernando Torres put in a Man of the Match display in midweek and with Samuel Eto’o miss-firing so far this season, it would be harsh to see the Spaniard drop back to the bench this weekend. Andre Schurrle could get the nod over Juan Mata, Willian and Kevin De Bruyne for a place in attack.

Young midfielder Marco van Ginkel has been ruled out for six months with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Fernando Torres: If the Spaniard starts and plays with the passion and desire he did in midweek, then he will cause Spurs problems. But if he has an off day, the Blues will lose the spearhead of their attack and wont be nearly as threatening going forward.

Predicted Score

Spurs 1-1 Chelsea: These games are nearly always an entertaining affair but we can see the two title pretenders play out a closely fought draw.

What would be your starting eleven and what’s your score prediction for the game? Share your thoughts below.