Chelsea vs. Spurs predictions: Will Sarri want it enough to stick with Plan B?

Chelsea’s brutal February wraps up with Tottenham coming to Stamford Bridge. If the Blues see their way to a win, Maurizio Sarri’s reward will be a comparatively lighter derby against Fulham this weekend.

All games remain must-win, even if the Blues lost their last must-win. Two managers with similar names, similar trophy shelves, but vastly different expectations square off as Chelsea look to jolt Tottenham out of their lingering title dreams.

Hugo Amaya: Chelsea 0 – 2 Tottenham. Maurizio Sarri learned that playing pretty passing keep-ball has a price: losing absolutely everything in one season. Therefore he will go with the same tactics and formation from the weekend.

Chelsea will have a good game, but two scrappy set pieces and a few missed opportunities will see the Blues on the losing end. This not only means Chelsea will be very close to losing a spot in the top four, but also the end of Sarri at the club.

Scott Brant: 2 – 1. I hardly ever pick the Blues to draw and never pick them to lose. Spurs are one of my more hated teams, so I would love nothing more than to watch Chelsea destroy them. Obviously Chelsea isn’t quite there, but a win would still be huge. I don’t even care about Sarri and whether or not he’s doing a decent job. I have been reduced to only caring about winning. Keep your tactics, drama, and all other distractions, it’s all down to winning now. As many matches as possible.

The Eden Hazard on that pitch versus Manchester City is the Hazard everyone loves. He will show up midweek and dominate Spurs single handedly. A brace for the man, and another few weeks of Sarri.

Rupert Meadows: 1 – 1. This game could go any way, from being an absolute slugfest where 10 cards are given out to a dull, long drawn out 90 minutes with barely a chance for either team. Both teams will be prioritizing avoiding a loss over going all out for the three points. Chelsea will be fired up and Spurs are without Dele Alli, who always seems to score against the Blues, so it could well result in a closely-fought draw. Whatever the score is, it’s gonna be cagey as hell.

Abhishek Pancholi: 1 – 3. After watching his modified tactics and substitutions stifle Manchester City, Maurizio Sarri will surprise everyone by reverting to what stopped working for him six months ago. Mauricio Pochettino will also revert to his Plan A for stopping Chelsea and the game will take on a familiar look. Lots of sideways passing and faffing about later, Spurs will take the lead courtesy of a simple cutback into the box. Chelsea will rally before equalizing at the stroke of halftime.

Any hopes of getting something from the game will be dashed in the second half when Spurs overrun the Chelsea midfield and everyone experiences a collective deja vu.

Nate Hofmann: 0 – 2. It would be easy to simply look at the current state of Chelsea as a club and just assume another embarrassing loss is imminent. But we can do better than that. We can look at one specific sorry aspect of the club to prognosticate another disappointment coming down the barrel, specifically the tactics displayed against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final. It was vintage mid-2000’s Mourinho. That, in itself, isn’t an issue.

But in the context of a Maurizio Sarri-managed side, it raises eyebrows. It suggests one of two things: either Sarri is relenting in his blind commitment to his own dogma, or the players have made their own collective decision to eschew Sarriball. Either way, it reeks of a club that has no idea how to play winning football.

Compare that to the rugged consistency of Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs, and it’s easy to see why this is a bad matchup for Chelsea. Spurs are coming off the back of a disappointing result as well, but it’s still a safe bet that they’ll come out and play confident, efficient football, something that is entirely alien to Chelsea at the moment.

Kevin Peacock: 3 – 2. I have to admit to feeling a little sad for Sarri. He cut a lonely figure on the touch line at Wembley as all around him scratched their heads. Kepa Arrizabalaga ruined what was a pretty good performance with his on field petulance.

Meanwhile, Chelsea like beating Tottenham, it’s one thing the players do buy into. Stamford Bridge will be rocking and I expect a big performance from Chelsea. Should they capitulate, that’s probably it as far as Sarri is concerned ,but I don’t think they will.

The club will demand a show of unity and Chelsea win a stormy encounter with goals from Hazard (2) and surprisingly (still pumped up) Jorginho.