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Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea: Premier League Preview, H2H & Predicted Line-ups

Tottenham Hotspur play host to high-flying Chelsea in a mouth-watering all-London Premier League showdown on Sunday.

Chelsea have smashed Crystal Palace and Arsenal in both Premier League London derbies they have featured in this season, taking their winning streak in such contests to five.

A potential victory here would see the Champions League holders set an unprecedented milestone in the club’s history by winning six consecutive capital club derbies in the competition.

Tottenham Hotspur Preview

Nuno Espirito Santo’s adventure at Tottenham was off to a fairytale start as his side registered a hat-trick of 1-0 wins to start a new Premier League season on a high.

After upsetting reigning champions Manchester City on the opening weekend, Nuno went on to beat ex-employers Wolverhampton at Molineux and squeeze past newly-promoted Watford on Matchday 3. 

However, Spurs fell to a horrendous 3-0 defeat to cross-town rivals Crystal Palace 3-0 at Selhurst Park last time out, worsening their recent record in top-flight London derbies.

Indeed, Tottenham have now lost four of their last six Premier League meetings with the capital-based sides (W2), as many defeats as they had in their previous 18 such contests in the competition.

Moreover, Spurs face the risk of losing three consecutive London derbies in the Premier League for the first time since August 2005, when that third reverse incidentally came at the hands of Chelsea of all teams.

Nuno’s hopes of avoiding that scenario will depend on Harry Kane, who has yet to find the net in the Premier League this term.

Additionally, the Tottenham stalwart has netted just once in his last eight league appearances against Chelsea.

So now would be a perfect time for Kane to rediscover his scoring mojo.

Chelsea Preview

Chelsea have opened the new Premier League season in the same way they capped off the last one, as they head into proceedings as one of just five English sides yet to taste defeat this term.

Except for a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield on the eve of the international break, the Blues have won their remaining three top-flight fixtures by 2+ goals ‘to nil.’ 

It comes as no surprise that the reigning European champions boast the division joint-best defensive record this season, as that’s been their hallmark under Thomas Tuchel.

Since replacing Frank Lampard in the dugout in January, the German manager has registered a clean sheet in 61% of his 23 Premier League managerial outings.

Taking all competitions into account, Tuchel has guided Chelsea to 23 clean sheets, a feat no other manager across Europe’s top-four leagues has achieved in that time. 

Don’t let the Blues’ water-tight defence take your attention away from a star-studded attack spearheaded by unrelenting Romelu Lukaku.

Since returning from Stamford Bridge in the summer, the Belgian striker has amassed three goals in as many Premier League appearances, including a double against Aston Villa last time out.

Lukaku also scored the decisive goal in Chelsea’s narrow 1-0 home win over Zenit St Petersburg in their Tuesday’s Champions League curtain-raiser.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea Head-to-Head

Chelsea outplayed Tottenham in both last season’s Premier League encounters, allowing Spurs just three shots on target across those meetings.

But they won just one of those two duels, drawing the other one, with each featuring under 1.5 overall goals. 

Curiously, the Blues have scored more Premier League goals (103) versus Tottenham than any other side in England’s top-flight.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea Predicted Line-ups

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): Hugo Lloris; Emerson Royal, Davinson Sanchez, Cristian Romero, Sergio Reguilon; Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Oliver Skipp; Bryan Gil, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son; Harry Kane.

Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Edouard Mendy; Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger; Reece James, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, Marcos Alonso; Mason Mount, Kai Havertz; Romelu Lukaku.

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