Which means we’re done until next time. Thanks all for your company and comments – sorry I couldn’t use them all. Ta-ra!
Here’s Nick Ames’ match report.
“Daniel, I think you are overrating Conte’s handshake,” says Giancarlo M. Sandoval. “That looks like a fairly normal flex when you are as well built as him! It was clearly Tuchel who didn’t let go!”
You think Conte wet-fished him? I find that hard to believe, but it’s a game of surprises, Saint.
From earlier:
Another “different times” from Carragher! It’s all going on!
“From what we saw,” emails Sam Morrison, “it looked like Tuchel didn’t let go of Conte’s hand. Antonio was giving him a very cursory walking-on-by handshake and Tuchel held on. Conte whirled around at him, furious.”
Interesting; I’m sure that happened, but look at Conte’s forearm below – he’s giving it everything.
Ahahahaha, of course Souness thinks today’s games were good because of what the refs were letting go; “It’s more of man’s game,” he says, so Karen Carney and Adam Darke correct him. Good.
Ah, here’s Carragher with a “Real Madrid and Barcelona dominating at different times”! Can this afternoon get any better?
Kane tells Sky that Spurs were fractionally late in their pressing but sorted themselves better in the second half. He wasn’t sure where his header had gone, but “saw the net rustling, right in front of our away fans” – what a feeling that must be. He doesn’t know what went on with the managers but knows it’s an emotional game and though he’s disappointed, sometimes that’s just what happens.
The difference in technique here, Conte flexing everything and Tuchel affecting calm. Beautiful.
Sky have *got* to get Souness to walk us through that handshake. pic.twitter.com/fP1RAdfwCo
— Daniel Harris (@DanielHarris) August 14, 2022
We need to dissect that handshake. I want slowmo, experts, diagrams in the paper, everything.
“This moment,” emails Mike Fitzgerald. “Maybe G Neville is a secret Incredible String Band fan….”
Updated
Chelsea will be absolutely devastated to have lost that. They were far, far better than Spurs but couldn’t get the second goal, and had to watch as their former manager celebrated an injury-time equaliser for a hated rival, then bullied their current manager with a classic playground ruse. I can’t believe Tuchel wasn’t ready for it; two fingers down your adversary’s forearm and your hand is unsqueezable.
Bissouma is over to the Spurs fans, amping them up, and no one wants to leave in case there’s more aggravation. But we’ve had a pretty nifty quantity, and the only pity is these two don’t play each other again in about five minutes.
Full-time: Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
YES WE ARE! Conte and Tuchel shake hands, I think Conte gives Tuchel the old squeeze and both men flare up! But various killjoys rob us of the slap and tickle so we have to make do with a red card apiece! Lovely, lovely stuff. Football!
90+6 min This has been a brilliant half of Premier League FootballTM, but are we to get the scuffle we deserve?
GOAL! Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Kane 90+6)
OH MY COMPLETE AND UTTER DAYS! Perisic’s corner is perfect, picking out Kane at the near post, and he imparts a perfect flick that sends the ball between Koulibaly and James, flicking the latter, and into the corner of the net!
Updated
90+5 min …because Romoero has hold of Cucurella, yanking him to the ground via neck and bouffant, but without sufficient violence to attract punishment.
90+4 min Davies is up and backs the ball goalwards, Mendy tipping over. Another corner, but VAR has seen something….
90+4 min Perisic curls it in, Azpilicueta heads away, and Bissouma leathers a volley that flicks someone on the way behind; corner.
90+3 min Carragher gives James player of the match, and I can’t argue with that. He’s everything a full-back should be, strong, fast, clever, skilful, hard and brave … and as I type that, he barges through Kane, giving Spurs a free-ick down the left…
90+1 min “In the 00s,” says Mathew Parr, “our ‘almost but not quite’ stadium prog rock band wrote a song called ‘One More Saturday’ about the decline of real football and football values. The rise in media trained footballers using the phrase “Like I just said” during post-match interviews featured prominently in the song. Once you hear it, you can not un-hear it.”
I know it well – I had the honour of making a film with Gary Anderson who deployed it even when discussing things he had not just said.
90 min The first half was a bit slow, but this has been a lot of fun since then. And we’ll have six extra minutes for an extra goal or ruckus; come on football gods, we’re not fussy.
89 min Havertz is taken off before Romero can separate him from his legs; Broja comes on.
88 min I said at some point in his career, I meant now; Romero clatters Havertz, but with nowhere near the prejudice he feels in his heart.
87 min “A moment is a node where one or more branches diverge,” advises Mark Bilsborough. “A decision point for example; different branches of a probability tree; or, if one were minded to be poetic, the point at which destinies change. I’ve always thought G Neville likely to sway to the beat of an inner poet. Musing self-reflectively on how that furrow he carved for so long up & down the right channel, is now increasingly etched upon his forehead.”
86 min Havertz storms through Romero from behind, sending him sprawling. He’s booked, and I daresay he’ll be hearing a retort at some stage of his career. We'’ll look forward to that.
85 min Havertz dashes down the right and cuts back for Gallagher, who feints the shot and moves onto Mount … who does the keeper with the eyes, dragging a finish just wide of the near post.
84 min Chelsea send on Gallagher for Kante – this might be his chance – and Pulisic for Sterling.
83 min Ach, Kante is down and looks to have tweaked something.
82 min Spurs, I meant to say, brought on Bissouma for Bentancur and Perisic for Son/
80 min “Tuchel v Conte,” says Joe Pearson. “Tuchel is wiry, sure, but Conte strikes me as someone ready to fight ‘to the pain’ (requisite Princess Bride reference).”
I agree. As Francis Begbie teaches, fights are won by psychopathy, not hardness.
Updated
78 min You’ve got to give Chelsea their due, they’ve stepped it up again after Spurs equalised. Reece James is an absolute superstar.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (James 77)
If you want summat doing, do it yourself! Koulibaly recovers possession high up the park and finds Kane who finds Sterling just outsde the box, almost dead centre. Suddenly, the Spurs back line is attracted to the ball as one, so Sterling feeds James, in aeons of time, and he punches a confident finish that sends Tuchel off down the touchline, Mourinho-style, telling Conte exactly what’s up! It’s everything that no one ever wants to see, ever. Disgusting.
Updated
75 min Reece James is such a player, and he gambols down the right, arcs a delectable cross into the middle to meet Havertz’s arrival … who, from five yards, ankles first-time a finish just wide! That was on a silver salver for him, and he can’t believe he missed, his manager neither.
75 min Richarlison has given Spurs the energy they lacked in the first hour, forcing Chelsea to play a quicker game. When it’s slow, Jorginho can control things, but as soon as there’s pressure on the ball, his influence wanes.
74 min It’s Azpilicueta on, so maybe a back three for Chelsea now.
Updated
73 min We’ve still not restarted, but Jorginho’s been yanked – we’ve not been told who for.
70 min I think Richarlison might’ve been in an offside position but he’s deemed to not be interfering, and both managers are booked. I think Conte went off celebrating near the Chelsea dug out – maybe muscle memory took over – but I’d not fancy Tuchel’s chances in a square go.
Updated
69 min Bentancur’s foul was 24 seconds before the goal. No way can you disallow it for that, irate though Tuchel is.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Hojbjerg 68)
And it’s all booting off on the bench, Tuchel and Conte needing separating! Everything that no one wants to see! Anyway, I think the ruckus is about Bentancur sliding in to foul Havertz, but in the meantime, the ball comes out of the Chelsea box to Hojbjerg – after Jorginho tries a little drag-back inside it – who controls a really good drive into the corner – though I wonder if Mendy might’ve done better.
Updated
67 min A Chelsea clincher still looks more likely than a Spurs equaliser, and Loftus-Cheek finds Sterling, who dinks a cross to the far post that no one attacks.
65 min Someone gets a flick on the corner but it goes behind Richarlison and Chelsea break with Sterling,. He finds Kante, accepts a return … but it’s just short, and Royal slides in to avert danger.
64 min It’s taken a while, but we got ourselves a ball-game, as Boehly might say, Richarlison is playing ahead of Kane, giving Chelsea’s back three twice as much to think about about about which to think, and they’re starting to get a bit of joy down the right, winning a corner which yields another…
Updated
61 min This is warming up! Hojbjerg slides a ball down the middle as Richarlison comes back from offside and Kane is in! I’ve not seen many smother finishers from this kind of position, 15 yards out, and he shoots as early as ever, but sweeps just wide of the far post, beating the turf in frustration! That was such a chance.
61 min Spurs are leaving space for Chelsea, Loftus-Cheek driving in off the right, shooting into Davies, collecting the rebound, barrelling through another challenge, then when the ball runs to Sterling, he dances across the face of a tackle and lofts a strike that flies high.
59 min “A couple of things,” begins Adam Timmins. “Firstly, time isn’t really covered by Philosophy of Science, it’s covered in Philosophy of Time. So there are various theories as to the ontology of time. So for example, endurantism and growing block theory both argue that different times are still in existence. So assuming Neville holds to one of these theories, then technically there are different moments in time. Then again, if he couldn’t even successfully manage a football club, how is he going to get his head around these concepts?”
I daresay successfully managing a football club is more difficult than developing a sophisticated understanding of time.
58 min Spurs try to up the intensity … for as long as it takes for the hitherto anonymous Kulusevski to wander down a blind alley.
Updated
57 min Richarlison replaces Sessegnon, which I’m sure has amused Perisic greatly.
56 min Yup, Richarlison is getting stripped.
55 min It’s still all Chelsea, who have Spurs pinned back unable to get out of their own half as they force a succession of corners. Surely Conte needs to act?
53 min More Chelsea possession, so here’s Joe Pearson: “The moments! Takes me back to my pre-retirement actuarial days: mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis…”
Come on, all the real intellectuals are thinking about Kenya Moore.
52 min Tuchel is wearing a royal blue baseball cap. No further questions, your honour.
50 min “Just watching your half-time entertainment,” tweets @lloydyes. “Peter Houseman seems to have been forgotten and I don’t think he was really appreciated in his lifetime. He also lived in a one-bedroom council flat at the end of my road.”
I remember him because my uncle is Chelsea and that particular team is his team, but also because we had a maths teacher who’d insert Chelsea names into whatever test he gave us – Shed End Station, Houseman Avenue, that kind of thing. But yes, his is not one of the more frequently-cited players from that side.
48 min Slightly better from Spurs, Kane turning on the ball and feeding one of those pythagorean passes in behind to meet the run of Son. But Thiago Silva goes with him and defends the space really well, Mendy coming out too to close down any potential pass or shot.
47 min “I was once having a rant about what could a moment be except time (43 minutes, G Neville),” says Adam Roberts, “and my niece who is studying advanced mathematics or some such at university gave me a long and complicated answer about a moment being something or other in applied mathematics which I didn’t even begin to understand but I was well and truly told.”
I was actually wondering about that: maybe Gary Nev is talking philosophy of science, because really, what is time?
Answer: time is illmatic, keep static like wool fabric.
46 min We go again. No changes from Conte, which seems strange, because this isn’t just a matter of hoping the starters play better – his chosen personnel have faults, and they’re being taken advantage of.
News flash: Graeme Souness thinks Spurs should be “more aggressive”. Of course he does! Obviously and as often, he’s right.
Half-time email: “Jamie Carragher,” begins David Farrell. “Not half as annoying as Clinton Morrison saying ‘to be fair’ every sentence. It’s like punctuation for him and rarely in context.”
I enjoy Clinton, to be fair.
Half-time entertainment:
Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea have been excellent; Spurs have been feeble.
45+2 min Conte has work to do at half-time, and what I’m especially enjoying is the way Tuchel is sort of using the box midfield, that he played when Chelsea won the league, against him, with Havertz and Mount buzzing about like Pedro and Hazard, in front of Jorginho and Kante rather than Kante and Fabregas.
45 min There’ll be three added minutes.
45 min good from Chelsea again, Jorginho swinging in a decent cross, but at the far post, Loftus-Cheek can’t get enough of it to direct his header on target, a flick sending the ball wide.
43 min “If you’re straying down the murky road of commentator mannerisms,” says Andy Fordham, “Steve McManaman always uses the phrase: ‘to be very honest’. Really gets on my wick.…”
If he’s just “being honest”, do we believe him? The other classic is Gary Neville’s “at this moment in time”. as opposed to a moment in what?
42 min Talking of England – and of James – much as I admire Kyle Walker and Trent Alexander-Arnold, he seems like the happy balance between the two. Obviously he’s not as creative as the latter, but his defensive ability is never being picked out as a weakness either, and he’s much better going forward than the former. I think there’s a good chance he becomes the best around.
41 min Spurs clear a corner and Son breaks away, so James, who’s almost man-marking Son, hauls him to the ground and is booked.
Updated
40 min I wonder if Spurs might get Bissouma on and also switch to a 4-3-3, because that formation will help them get on the ball in midfield where, at the moment, they’re getting worked.
39 min Excellent from Mount again, charging across the pitch to put Dier under and blocking his cross with a slide. Though I’m far from certain he should be a starter for England, it’s easy to see why Garry Southgate loves him so much.
37 min Mason Mount is a terrific big-game player – he’s been excellent so far – and arrives on the edge to shift the ball right, opening the angle for the curler towards the far top-corner. He can’t get the draw, though, so the ball screeches wide.
Updated
36 min Emerson stands up Cucurella, nips outside him and crosses low. But none of his mates can make the near post, so Mendy collects easily enough.
35 min Havertz flicks inside for Mount, who turns cleverly and adroitly before Royal clatters him. Chelsea are doing really well at picking up the spaces between the Tottenham midfielders.
34 min Anyone noticed how Jamie Carragher deploys the phrase “at times” or “at different times”? It very rarely fits, and now I’ve pointed it out, I’m afraid you’ll need to be aware of it as often as I am.
33 min Cucurella picks out Kane, who clears weakly, then Chelsea get passing again.
Updated
32 min Now Chelsea win a free-kick down the left, James and Cucurella behind it…
31 min Sterling gets the ball on the left of the box and, as Cucurella charges outside him, he uses the decoy to move in the opposite direction before hammering a shot into Hojbjerg. There’s a shout for a penalty, but the ref wants nowt to do with it – and rightly so.
Updated
30 min Off we go again. It’s still all Chelsea; Spurs have been very disappointing and will, I daresay, be experiencing some invective if they don’t improve before half-time.
27 min Koulibaly has the taste! Again, the corner makes its way over to him, whereupon he endeavours a scissors kick, Romero getting close enough to put him off s the ball soars high. And that is drinks.
25 min Chelsea have got Loftus-Cheek and Mount turning up in pockets, which is allowing them to boss the midfield. If Spurs aren’t careful, they’ll soon be further behind, and as I type that, Son chases back to rob James as cost of a corner.
24 min Loftus-Cheek advances down the right and crosses, but with Mount poised, Romeros extends a leg in desperation and sees the ball away.
22 min Sessegnon races onto a long ball over the top. I think he’s offside, but he takes it well and his second touch moves him from left-side to central with a chance of shooting. He looks to go across Mendy, who saves with his legs, then the flag goes up.
22 min Spurs haven’t done much in the last 15 minutes or so – they’re losing the midfield numbers game, and though Chelsea don’t, as I said, look all that cohesive, pressure told.
WHAT A GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham (Koulibaly 20)
The corner picks out Koulibaly on the far side of the box and … please do not adjust your sets … he laces across a measured volley, giving it just enough whole holding back just enough, to send the ball searing past Lloris at the near post! A centre-back! That is a gloooorious finish, and a lead well-earned too!
Updated
19 min Now this is more like it, Chelsea advancing down the right and Sterling crossing for Havertz, who sweeps towards the far corner … but Lloris hurls himself right, to tip away.
18 min Loftus-Cheek tries a cross that’s cleared but straight to Koulibaly, who wellies a shot over the bart.
17 min Havertz is spending a lot of time out on the right. I’m not certain who that’s meant to help, because Chelsea need him more involved than this.
15 min I said earlier that both sides look a bit slow in midfield, but Mount dropping in is helping Chelsea control possession. And, as I type that, a fortunate bounce as he closes down Bentancur takes Kante goalwards, so he flings himself into a dig … that Dier does well to block.
14 min Chelsea are now up at 66% possession, though they’ve not done loads with it. I doubt Spurs mind either – I daresay they’ll be hoping to score on the counter.
14 min But his delivery is poor, and in amongst it, there’s an offside.
13 min It’s Chelsea in the ascendancy now, dominating territory without doing much else. Cucurella has a cross cleared, then Sessegnon applies shin to leg of Loftus-Cheek, and James is out on the free-kick.
11 min Better from Chelsea, Jorginho spreading play right, but James’ cross is a poor one and Spurs get the ball away.
9 min Cucurella finds himself robbed by the sliding Romero, barrelling through him and introducing studs to knee with oodles of plausible deniability.
8 min Kante picks up a poor pass from Hojbjerg, but his ball out wide is the wrong side of Havertz. Chelsea, though, keep at it, getting it into the box as Cucurella follows up … pumping a shot into the nearest body.
7 min Spurs look really confident; sorry Spurs fans! Chelsea, meanwhile, look more like they’re making it up as they go along.
6 min Spurs have started the better, quicker to second balls and more coherent moving forward.
4 min Again, Spurs pick it up in midfield and Kane finds Son, but his shot is blocked. His team. though, maintain pressure, Kane dinking a decent pass over the top for Royal, but on the stretch, his cross is easily collected by Mendy.
4 min …but Son curls it behind.
2 min Spurs burgle the ball in midfield but Son can’t find a decent passing lane when fed by Kulusevski. No matter, Kane wins a free-kick down the right, and this is a decent chance to get ball into the box…
1 min Hmmm, it looks to me like Chelsea are playing a back four, but let’s see. What’s definitely the case is that Kai Havertz has had a severe haircut and Ruben Loftus-Cheek is on the right of midfield. So, if it’s back three, James will be in it not Cucurella.
1 min And away we go!
“I imagine Cucurella will be in the back thee with Koulibaly and Silva,” says Tim Baker. “James and RLC wing-backs. The big-haired Spaniard often filled that role with distinction for Brighton. If Tuchel gives him the freedom that Potter did, expect him to still get forward when possible.”
Yup, I’d agree with that.
Here come the teams!
Ah, he’s got a black tee on underneath. By way of consolation, check out these lads.
Todd Boehly is wearing a blue shirt. In these temperatures, that’s a bold bold call.
“I love football and I quite like statistics,” emails Richard Hirst, “but the two don’t mix well. I have never tried to understand expected goals but, with all due respect, as they say, to Keshava Guha, how can you have .6 of an expected goal? Must be when the whole of the ball doesn’t cross the line!”
I dunno, I’m not a massive stats lad but I do enjoy different ways of understanding the game, and given the pros are bang into it, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I went about like it’s not a thing. xG isn’t infallible, nor especially useful for telling you about individual games, especially if you’ve watched them, but it’s not terrible at summing up a raft of action that you’ve not seen.
“Re Højbjerg v Bissouma,” tweets @andersvb like we’re discussing case law. “By all accounts, Højbjerg has proven himself a leader in the dressing room and on the pitch. Perhaps Conte is wary of upsetting that balance?”
Sure, I can see that – though he’s signed Bissouma, presumably to tax Hojbjerg’s spot. Perhaps he wants to do things gradually, but Conte doesn’t seem like a gradual kind of cat.
Tuchel tells Sky he’s playing three at the back. Loftus-Cheek will be wing-back because he thinks you need five to defend Spurs’ aggressive wing-backs – goodness me, I don’t entirely grasp that – but we don’t know on which side, so don’t know which of James and Cucurella will be in midfield.
“I agree with your assessment that Raheem Sterling is more effective out wide,” says Keshava Guha, “but I’m not sure his finishing is the reason. He’s more someone with some memorable bad misses than a consistently deficient finisher. Over his past five seasons at City, he scored 75 non-penalty goals, against an expected total of 69.6 (stats via FBRef). So if anything he’s been a slightly *above*-average finisher.”
Er, I see what you’re saying, but I’d need to know how the data was compiled before committing to it. Let’s say Sterling scored a few really difficult ones, might they elevate his xG eve if he’s missing others he should score? I also wonder if it makes a difference that, playing for City, he got loads of chances, giving him scope to score lots thereby improving his numbers, whereas if he’s feeding off scraps, perhaps he misses more. I don’t know, I’m probably talking words.
I tried to rationalise it earlier, but I’m still extremely surprised Conte is preferring Hojbjerg to Bissouma. I can’t see a single aspect of the former’s game that’s superior to the latter’s, and also don’t get why you’d not want to settle new players a-sap.
“THAT game.” begins Matt Dony. “He was often (and deservedly) disliked, but this fixture should ALWAYS be refereed by Mark Clattenburg. His finest hour.”
Love Clattz. The ref we all know we’d be.
It’s a funny thing with Chelsea, really. Thomas Tuchel did brilliantly to win the Gazprom having come in midway through the season, but there wasn’t loads of discernible improvement last term. With the players they have, it’s hard to see them getting close to the top two, and given what they’re spending, they’ll be wanting to.
Yup, Forest have beaten West Ham 1-0 – and that’s a colossal win. They were helped by a dreadful Declan Rice penalty, but they won’t care about that.
I guess what Chelsea have is three attackers capable of improvisational brilliance. I’m not sure they’ve the kind of blend that’ll make them as irresistible as Son-Kulusevski-Kane can be and they’re not grooved yet either, but they’ve got enough to nail any defence on a good day.
Chelsea, I imagine, will want their front three coming at Spurs from unusual areas. They don’t have a proper striker, so will be relying on intelligent movement and passes to open things up.
Looking at the line-ups, I kind of fancy Spurs. Both sides are a bit slow in midfield – or have one slow midfielder – but I think Spurs have the greater dynamism in attack. You can easily see them getting in behind Chelsea’s wing-backs, while Chelsea don’t really have players quick enough to manage that.
At the City Ground, Nottingham Forest lead West Ham 1-0 with, for extra mirth, Dean Henderson playing a blinder. Catch the end of that with Rob Smyth, here:
Unusually for a fixture with so much history, its greatest iteration came in recent times. Oh my days this was glorious; enjoy!
As for Spurs, they’re unchanged following last weekend’s tousing of Southampton. That means Antonio Conte’s principal summer acquisitions – Ivan Perisic, Yves Bissouma and Richarlison – are once again on the bench. I’d be interested to know why Conte has done that – is he asserting his authority and telling players that places need to be won? Or is he saying the new lads don’t know what he wants from them yet; that the old ones are better?
Below, I also gave Chelsea’s formation at 3-4-3, but 3-4-2-1 might be more accurate. I’m not quite sure why you’d want Raheem Sterling through the middle – his movement is excellent but his finishing not so much. I guess he might be able to play off Kai Havertz, but the balance of the front three doesn’t look write to me.
Two changes for Chelsea, who bring in Marc Cucurella for a home debut, along with Ruben Loftus-Cheek; Cesar Azpilicueta and Ben Chilwell drop out. My instinct is that Reece James with play on the right of midfield with Cucurella at left-centre-back and Loftus-Cheek on the left of midfield, but they might all shift round one, with James at the back, Cucurella on the left and Loftus-Cheek on the right.
Updated
Teams!
Chelsea (3-4-3): Mendy; Silva, Koulibaly, Cucuerella; James, Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek; Mount, Sterling, Havertz. Subs: Kepa, Pulisic, Chalobah, Broja, Ziyech, Gallagher, Hudson-Odoi, Chilwell.
Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3): Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Royal, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Sessegnon; Kulusevski, Kane, Son. Subs: Forster, Doherty, Sanchez, Gil, Perisic, Richarlison, Moura, Tanganga, Bissouma.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Wythenshawe)
Preamble
On 16 December 2007, Arsenal played Chelsea and Manchester United visited Anfield, a strange quirk of the fixture calendar magically allowing Sky to keep eyeballs on their channel for near enough an entire day. This uncanny coincidence ceased after a bit and so much the better – but in a way, it seems relevant this afternoon.
Chelsea v Spurs is one of the great fixtures of English football, oozing animus and history. And because both sides are now pretty good, it comes freighted with greater tension, making a steaming Saturday afternoon in August entirely the wrong place for it. It needs howling wind, driving rain and soul-curdling cold, breath visible in the night air and grown adults performing the sort of ludicrous antics to which sun and summer are unconducive.
But because we’re back to playing matches at random, where it belongs is where it is, and this should be an absolute belter. Just a few months ago, things looked sketchy for Chelsea, the provenance of Roman Abramovich’s money – and the glory it bought – finally catching up with them, their future as a force apparently imperilled. Except Todd Boehly and mates have, so far, made good on their promises, tossing cash about like confetti and strengthening a squad that was already pretty handy. Whether it’s good enough to contest the league title remains to be seen – this afternoon will tell us a bit about that – but it’s good enough to beat any team on any day, a decent spot in which to be.
Spurs, meanwhile, have also been taken over - but by a manager, not a consortium. Antonio Conte read his situation and played his hand perfectly: a manager of his pedigree, having done the work he’d done, decides to leave because the board won’t back him? The job becomes toxic, players ask to leave and the club is worth less – not what Daniel Levy wants, and definitely not what Joe Lewis wants. So they were forced to invest and – almost against their better judgment – now have a team that looks ready to do something. It’s an absolutely ridiculous state of affairs, but here we are.
Though both sides are settling and have managers disinclined to take risks, the chances of an expansive encounter are slim. But the intensity of both, coupled with the mutual antipathy in the stands, means that they should treat us to a compelling afternoon nevertheless - however wrong it feels.
Kick-off: 4.30pm BST
