As Gameweek 2 approaches, we have on our cards this weekend one of the most important matches of the season. Describing it with that magnitude this early in the season is debatable but if nothing else there is definitely a whole lot of pride at stake in this fixture.
The London Derby between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday at Spurs’ new makeshift home at Wembley is expected to be a hotly contested affair.
In recent seasons this fixture has grown in its importance. Chelsea effectively ended Spurs’ title charge in 2015/2016 courtesy of an Eden Hazard screamer, a game which Tottenham ended in a rather ugly manner collecting 9 yellow cards. 2016/2017 was another frustrating year for Spurs where they could only challenge Chelsea for the title who eventually won it by quite a comfortable margin.
Spurs promise to come into this new campaign ever so strongly and with Chelsea suffering from multiple problems of their own with respect to transfers, suspensions, and injuries, Spurs could not ask for a better time to face them.
Chelsea did put up a fierce second half display against Burnley showing that they are not one of the teams to go down without a fight.
Here are 3 key battles which might decide in whose favour the final result tilts in this early season crunch encounter:
1) Christian Eriksen vs N’Golo Kante
The Dane has been impeccable in the preseason showing that he is ready to continue from where he left last season. He ended the previous campaign with 8 goals and 15 assists bettering his tally of 6 goals and 13 assists in the previous year. He has started this season with a bang already creating both of Spurs’ goals against Newcastle in the season opener. One man will be in charge of stopping Eriksen in his tracks and cutting the link between him and Kane or Alli, is N’Golo Kante. The Chelsea midfielder is second to none when it comes to interceptions and tackles. His defensive duties have been intensified this season as he will miss his partner in crime Nemanja Matic in the middle of the park. Chelsea are likely to employ David Luiz as a makeshift centre midfielder and the responsibility will lie with the Frenchman to make sure Chelsea are not caught out.
2) Alvaro Morata vs Toby Alderweireld
Alvaro Morata could not have asked for a better start personally in the English League. In his 31 mins cameo appearance off the bench, Morata scored once and provided a brilliant assist for David Luiz to score for Chelsea despite the Blues being two men down. He looked determined to perform, attacked every ball, made some threading runs in the box and most certainly seems to have left the Community Shield penalty miss behind him. He will be up against one of the league’s best centre backs in the form of Toby Alderweireld. The Belgian stalwart is strong at tackling and his reading of the game is second to none. Toby likes to get involved in physical challenges with opposition strikers and he will look to stall Morata’s bright start in the Premier League.
3) Harry Kane vs Antonio Rudiger
The English striker did not open his account for the season against Newcastle. He scored an incredible 29 goals last season but his slow starts to seasons have been well documented. He has not scored a Premier League goal in the month of August and it is just a matter of time before he breaks the duck. German defender Antonio Rudiger must not at all be pleased by Chelsea’s defensive display against Burnley. At an early stage in the season, the former Roma defender must be determined to make amendments by stopping Kane in his tracks. Coming up against the League’s best striker in just his second game in English football is not an easy task but Rudiger will look to bring his experience into play and get Chelsea’s title defence right back on track.
The game will be held at Spurs’ makeshift home for the season Wembley, which in the past has been a great hunting ground for The Blues, especially against Tottenham. Pochettino will be hoping the ghosts of Wembley from last year’s short-lived Champions League campaign are behind them. As for Conte, he can only pray that he has enough players to make it to the squad and that his big stars keep their heads and put up a solid display to answer their critics after a shoddy performance against The Clarets.
