Tottenham-Chelsea Preview & Lineups

Tottenham welcome London rivals Chelsea to White Hart Lane for a Premier League match that could go some way in deciding both teams’ fates.

With Chelsea first and Tottenham fifth — but fighting for a third spot with a win — this will undoubtedly be a grueling match. As such, both sides have predictably named very strong sides.

Doing so comes as something of a risk. The Premier League’s busy festive schedule means both Antonio Conte and Mauricio Pochettino have had to make decisions on how best to rotate their most important players.

For Tottenham that rotation came both voluntarily and involuntarily. Pochettino rested Mousa Dembélé for the New Years Day match against Watford while also pulling Dele Alli off in the 60th minute.

Meanwhile, fifth yellow cards for both Kyle Walker and Jan Vertonghen in the win over Southampton meant that both defenders enjoyed an unplanned but well-deserved rest.

Conte’s relied on a largely unrotated Chelsea side for months now thanks to the club’s lack of European obligations, and the same more or less remained true for the match against Stoke on Sunday. Only Pedro and Nemanja Matic sat for that match.

So, then, these two teams come as little surprise for Wednesday’s match.

What is surprising is that Pochettino seems to have elected to go with a back-three once again. That strategy proved effective against Watford and, before that, against Arsenal, but it it’s a tad surprising here.

With Eric Dier, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen sitting in front of Hugo Lloris, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker are free to push up the pitch to meet Chelsea’s own wing-backs head on. Dembélé and Victor Wanyama will cover the center of the pitch while a trio of Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Harry Kane will lead the attack.

Both Matic and Pedro are restored to Chelsea’s starting XI, which again sets up in Conte’s customary 3-4-3 formation.

It’s free-scoring Diego Costa and endless inventive Eden Hazard up front that stand out as the biggest threats to Tottenham, but in reality this is going to be a tough team to beat all over the pitch.

Cesar Azpilicueta is proving just as talented as a centre-back as he did as a full-back, while Gary Cahill and David Luiz are living up to expectations.

Next: Tottenham Can Make Chelsea Mortal Again

It will be N’Golo Kanté who stands to make the biggest impression. He is the pivot around which Chelsea’s robust defense relies to get the ball back forward, and with Tottenham looking to press their homefield advantage early and often the Frenchman’s bound to play an important role.

Check back at full-time for some final thoughts about the game and its implications of the remainder of Tottenham’s season.