Leciester have left the door slightly ajar
And now Spurs can ram their foot through it
We love a bit of drama here in Power Tower. A major twist in a soap storyline, a Hawkeye/video ref decision or when the intern has a piece of bog roll stuck to his shoe. But especially drama in the Premier League and after the survival race took two major twists on Saturday, the title race is still on after Leicester’s draw in Old Trafford.
Chelsea were looking good under Guus Hiddink. They went a dozen league games unbeaten under him then, as soon as they announced Antonio Conte as their new manager for next season, lost back to back games. They did manage to beat Bournemouth comfortably last weekend thanks to Eden Hazard who, after scoring twice, has seemingly become the best player in the world again and not the massive flop that he actually has been.
But the stats don’t look as good. Chelsea have conceded more at home than Sunderland, Newcastle and Crystal Palace. 29 goals in 16 home games is poor for a side of their quality, especially when you see they’ve created more chances than Leicester. Hazard’s quote during the week shows what their mentality is though
”We have a good game next week against Tottenham, if we can beat them it will be good. We don’t want Spurs to win the league. The fucking mugs”
Alright he didn’t say that last bit. How much better would the game be if he did though?!
Spurs are conceding less than a goal per game in the league this season.
Harry Kane leads the Golden Boot race.
They’re going to finish above Arsenal for the first time in what feels like an eternity.
But for every good piece of news, there’s a bad one. Lose this game and Leicester are champions. Draw it and Leicester are effectively champions. Win it and Leicester are still going to be champions once they beat Everton.
Pochettino is missing Dele Alli after he remembered he was 20 and lashed out at the nearest person. All of his eggs are going into Kane’s basket. Which sounds like a title for a chick flick. But Kane has only scored twice against Chelsea in five appearances. Luckily enough Eriksen, Lamela and Dembele are all capable of picking up the scraps. Or he could always continue his nepotism and play his Son from the bench.
History is not on Spurs’ side
- The last time they won a league game at Stamford Bridge Sinead O’Connor topped the charts with Nothing Compares 2 U.
- In the 26 games since then Chelsea have beaten them 15 times.
- Guus Hiddink has never lost a game against Spurs in the league.
Going on the stats, it looks like this will be low-scoring. Under 2.5 goals is and is most definitely worth a penny or nine. The magnitude of the game means we’re tipping a narrow 1-0 Spurs win at . If they score first, do not expect them to go gung-ho for a second. Their defence is too good for it. In terms of goalscorers, look to Hazard for Chelsea () and an outsider in the form of Eric Dier () for Spurs.