In a week when Spurs’ loanee forward Mathys Tel made an embarrassing social media gaff by uploading a photo of himself in a “Willian” shirt, it’s a great time to look to the past to assess the importance of Thursday’s home fixture against Tottenham.
Ange Postecoglu may have had to update some of his current squad on the bitterness of this London derby, which could mean so much more for Chelsea’s season than just bragging rights and the opportunity to sing about a certain Brazilian winger seeing the light in 2013.
Something we do love about Tottenham, is getting to play them at home.
We enjoy a terrific record over our North London rivals, which bodes well given the timing of this upcoming encounter. As it stands, there is only a five-point disparity between Chelsea, in 4th, and Bournemouth sat 10th in the Premier League. With nine games remaining, we are approaching the final quarter of the season and facing Tottenham now could be just what we need.
This fixture last season was admittedly slightly later on in the campaign, yet it arrived under similar circumstances. We had recently suffered a damaging defeat to Arsenal, and our prospects for the future seemed uncertain at best; then came our appointment with Doctor Tottenham, which started a five-game winning streak that secured our return to European football.
Now we match up against Spurs once again, at a point where a win would inject much-needed confidence to carry us into the back end of the season. Our remaining fixtures are tough, containing several direct challengers for a top-four spot, meaning we will need to be at our best to end the 2024/25 season on a high. A win on Thursday could prove just as inspirational as it did last year when all is said and done.
As fans, we have our fingers crossed that the injured players returning to training will all be able to feature and hit the ground running, as they have been sorely missed. This fixture is always littered with cards and full of goals, with both teams netting twenty in the past five meetings.
Anticipating a typically fiery, high-scoring affair seems likely, and we will enter the game with much more confidence with all three of Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke available.
If it is a frenetic, open game like our 4-3 victory in December, then the returning group could be pivotal in a smash-and-grab, high-octane fixture. Equally, if Chelsea can assert themselves on the game more firmly, in controlling possession as Enzo Maresca demands, the understanding that Palmer has with Jackson and Madueke could provide the key needed to unlock a tighter game.