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Key events
2 min: The atmosphere is raucous, plenty of time and opportunity for refreshment on a Monday evening. Tottenham choosing to pass around at the moment, Chelsea covering off the angles.
And away we go at the Tottenham Stadium…
1 min: Tottenham immediately come under pressure as Jackson surges into their box. Pedro Porro comes out to clear.
There is a ceremony of remembrance, the wreaths laid by two Chelsea pensioners after the Last Post.
The “they’re loving Ange instead” joke that is pervading is not good if don’t want to have *that* song as an earworm. It’s just replaced Now And Then, which is far better.
Krishna gets in touch: “Good evening John. Not since the days of AVB did a combination of an expensive outfit and a strategically gifted manager appear this ineffective .Chelsea is soon going to bear the ignominy of matches played being a bigger number than the points on the table. Dark days for us Chelsea fans.”
One thing to note, the return of 12 points from 10 games is the same as under Poch in his first season at Spurs. And that turned out nice. So keep the faith, if you are so inclined.
Richard Hirst gets in touch: “If tonight’s game is half as much fun as the Battle of the Bridge it will be great. Only trouble with that was that Chelsea managed to draw.”
Mr Hirst is a Fulham supporter. I recall listening to that game on the radio. Absolute bedlam it sounded like.
Mauricio Pochettino spoke to Sky Sports, talking mostly about…Spurs: “Maddison is doing really well, he’s had a great impact for Tottenham. It’s a challenge for us, we’re still evolving and we need time because the team is young.
“The key today is to stop Maddison because we need to dominate the midfield area. They are strong with Bissouma and Sarr, they recover the ball as soon as possible. We need to control it with Enzo, Gallagher and Moises.”
Ange Postecoglou spoke to Sky Sports: “They have a good line-up and players and Mauricio is a top manager. It’s going to be a tough game for us. But we have been good and I am sure there is going to be a good atmosphere in the stadium.”
“It is going to be a game when with both teams trying to play there will be space out there. Brennan’s pace is great and he has had a bit of a disrupted start so I am looking forward to seeing what he can do for us.”
Jeff Sax gets in touch: “This game feels like a real classico!!” Yes, and with respect, a little more than the German equivalent.
Hugh Molloy gets in touch: “Enjoying Daniel Sturridge’s punditry and tactical analysis. He genuinely thinks about the questions he’s asked, introduces nuance and tries to avoid cliche. A fresh and confident voice.”
Full agree. And he’s very humble about his own achievements. That’s not always the case with certain pundits.
For Chelsea, Levi Colwill, Thiago Silva and Moises Caicedo and out go Marc Cucurella, Benoit Badiashile and Lesley Ugochukwu from last week’s Blackburn game. Reece James makes his first start in the Premier League since August and will captain his team.
Destiny Udogie and Brennan Johnson come in for Ben Davies and Richarlison for Spurs, and that adds some real speed to Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham.
The teams
Tottenham: Vicario, Udogie, Van de Ven, Romero, Porro, Bissouma, Matar Sarr, Johnson, Maddison, Kulusevski, Son. Subs: Forster, Royal, Dier, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Gil, Celso, Bentancur, Richarlison.
Chelsea: Sanchez, Colwill, Silva, Disasi, James, Fernandez, Caicedo, Sterling, Gallagher, Palmer, Jackson. Subs: Petrovic, Cucurella, Gusto, Maatsen, Badiashile, Ugochukwu, Mudryk, Madueke, Deivid.
Early team news
Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies face fitness tests to fill Spurs’ left-back spot. Ivan Perisic, Ryan Sessegnon and Manor Solomon will all be missing.
Trevoh Chalobah, Carney Chukwuemeka, Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku all remain out for Chelsea. Armando Broja and Mykhailo Mudryk returned to training this week and Benoît Badiashile made a successful return in the Carabao Cup last week.
And Poch is…looking elsewhere already?
We cannot underestimate the Chelsea and Tottenham fans. The Chelsea fans know we were at Tottenham, and the situation in the Champions League and the Battle of the Bridge … are we going to hide this emotion? No, it’s impossible. And I cannot say I forget all the things [at Tottenham], that would be stupid. I’m going to be natural and show every game that I want to win. And at the same time I want to enjoy being at a place I was part of the process of creating something special there. I am really calm and I want to enjoy and hope for a good night for us.
The Battle of the Bridge, a classic of stuff you don’t want to see but actually do.
The revival of Son Heung-min is just one of the many good things Ange Postecoglou has done for Tottenham.
Going into the transfer market and bringing in someone that was going to score 25-30 goals, I just don’t think that was realistic. He’s got great capacity for working, pressing. I just thought he would be a really good fit for us here. He wasn’t the only option I was looking at but probably the best fit for where we are as a team and what we needed. The more he plays, the better he’ll get in terms of being a goal threat and he’s a massive asset to have.
Preamble
Big Ange v Poch. For Tottenham fans, this must be like seeing the ex with a hated wally but turning up with an Australian stunner, if you can forgive the Swiss Toni-isms. Tottenham, yes, Tottenham can go back to the top of the Premier League. What with Liverpool and Arsenal faltering it could soon be them and Manchester City competing for the Premier League title … OK, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves but it’s safe to say that in the Poch years, Tottenham never started so well. And it can also be said that rarely at Chelsea, in the last 20 years, have they started so poorly as this season.
Pochettino is having to build a new, workable team out of what Todd Boehly has herded in but it can’t be easy, and he doesn’t quite seem like the same bloke who had such swagger for much of his time at Tottenham. Still, Chelsea still call their visits to north London “Three Points Lane” so maybe this can kickstart his time at his second London club. Should be a cracker, plenty of needle out there. Nothing daft, hopefully, but enough for a Monday night fizzer, hopefully.
Kick-off is 8pm UK time. Join me.
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