Chelsea welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon in the first big London derby of the 2022/23 Premier League season.
Spurs kickstarted their campaign with a convincing 4-1 victory over Southampton last weekend as Eric Dier, Dejan Kulusevski and Ryan Sessegnon all opened their respective goalscoring accounts for the year. The Blues also recorded three points at the first time of asking, overcoming Frank Lampard's Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park thanks to a first-half penalty from central midfielder Jorginho.
Thomas Tuchel's side enjoyed a perfect record over the Lilywhites last season, beating them home and away in the league as well as the Carabao Cup but former Chelsea frontman Chris Sutton has backed Antonio Conte and Co to come out on top this time around. Writing for the BBC, Sutton said: "Chelsea love playing Spurs - they beat them four times last season, and Tottenham have only beaten them once in the league at Stamford Bridge since February 1990.
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"Spurs boss Antonio Conte was in charge of Chelsea for that defeat - in April 2018 - but I have a sneaky feeling he will enjoy this meeting a lot more. Chelsea got a good win at Everton, but the way they got it was not particularly pretty.
"If they are slightly off it again on Sunday, they won't get away with it. Tottenham, meanwhile, were devastating in attack against Southampton and I am expecting more of the same from them here.
"Add in Conte going back to Stamford Bridge, and I am going to go with Spurs to take the points. They took the game to Saints anyway, but they also counter-attack so well when that turnover happens. When they get the ball into Kane with runners off him, they are so hard to stop."
Sutton's prediction: 1-2
Former Arsenal and Chelsea maestro Paul Merson has also weighed in with his predictions for the highly-anticipated clash, claiming that he can see the two London sides sharing the spoils this time around. Writing for Sportskeeda, Merson said: "This match is massive, and not just because of the rivalry between the two teams.
"Chelsea beat Tottenham four times last season. They did the double over Spurs in the Premier League and that produced a huge 12-point swing in their favour.
"I'm worried for Chelsea this weekend. They were a bit United-ish against Everton, if I'm being honest. Their game wasn't fluid and pretty stop-start, and they couldn't put four passes together against an Everton team that wasn't great to begin with.
"If Spurs come to Stamford Bridge and win, you'd be worried about Chelsea and their top-four credentials. Tottenham will want to make a statement here. A victory against Chelsea would turn heads, even if it's only the second game of the season.
"If they lose after buying all those players, however, you'll hear talk of how they still haven't caught up with the Premier League's big boys. If either team loses this match, it's a massive step in the wrong direction. Neither Chelsea nor Tottenham Hotspur can afford to suffer defeat this weekend, and I think this game will end in a draw."
Merson's Prediction: Chelsea 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
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