Big London battle

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The last time these two clubs met at White Hart Lane, they both had different managers. Harry Redknapp was at the helm with the Spurs sitting pretty at no.3 while Andre Villas-Boas’s Chelsea were at no.4.

The backdrop of course was provided by that slippery legend who wears the captain’s armband at Chelsea, John Terry. This time though, it was a slip of the tongue as he was very recently charged with racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in Chelsea’s previous game. Gareth Bale’s ankle was magically cured by Tottenham’s miracle workers just in time for the match, but Villas-Boas was not too bothered.
Instead he was concentrating on another player, his top summer transfer target — Luka Modric.
He should have been a lot more concerned about Bale though as the winger ran Chelsea’s defense ragged for most of the match and set up Adebayor’s 9th minute goal. Chelsea equalised 20 minutes later through Daniel Sturridge and had John Terry, who made a goal line clearance deep into stoppage time, to thank for the score line to remain unchanged for the rest of the game.
Much has changed since while much has remained the same. Chelsea for starters are at the top of the table while Spurs are at their favorite position — 5th. Andre-Vilas Boas has promptly taken over Harry Redknapp’s job at Tottenham while his right hand man Roberto Di Matteo is now in charge of Chelsea. Luka Modric, who refused to play for Villas-Boas’ Spurs, have moved to Madrid this summer.
While John Terry is still not over the Anton Ferdinand case, now serving a 4-match ban, which means he misses the London Derby. The most recent encounter at Stamford Bridge has not been considered as much like the goals in the game, there were no talking points either. That should not be the case tonight. Both have won 4 of their last 5 games and drawn 1.
While both teams have just the one main striker, Chelsea have scored 9 of their 15 goals in that period while Tottenham 11 of their 13. Worryingly however for Chelsea, they have also scored 11 of their 15 goals at home and only 4 on the road in 3 games. Added to that, Chelsea don’t have a great holding midfielder and their defense will have to cope without John Terry.
While Gary Cahill is a great deputy and would be my pick over Terry, a good defensive line is one that gets a run of games together. And this will not be the case at Spurs for Chelsea. The thirst for revenge as master takes on apprentice will give Spurs a bit of an edge as Chelsea look like they might be on the verge of their 1st defeat of the season.
Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Chelsea