Chelsea v Tottenham: Expect a battle at the Bridge | OneFootball

English Premier League

Ange Postecoglou is having a difficult season at Spurs

Chelsea and Tottenham have had some tasty clashes down the years, and with both clubs looking for a morale-boosting win, Kevin Hatchard believes we could be in for another derby scrap...

Chelsea v TottenhamThursday 03 April, 20:00

Blues' season reaching a critical phase

When your owners have spent more than a billion pounds on players, there tends to be a lot of pressure attached if you're the man coaching those players, and Enzo Maresca is the latest to feel that heat. The Italian is on course to win the Conference League, but if he fails to qualify for the Champions League, he could go the way of other Clearlake/Boehly bosses like Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino.

The West London outfit have won just six of their last 15 top-flight matches, and at time of writing they have slipped 21 points behind leaders Liverpool, and they only have a two-point cushion in the race for Champions League spots. Maresca has been at pains to play down expectations given the youth and inexperience of his side, but that kind of rhetoric failed to save his predecessors.

The brutal truth is that despite such lavish expenditure, Chelsea don't have a world-class goalkeeper, an elite centre-half or a 25-goal striker. Senegalese forward Nicolas Jackson has huge promise, and has been sorely missed during a two-month injury absence, and his loss has been compounded by the fact that French international Christopher Nkunku seems to have somewhat lost his way since his days as the Bundesliga's joint-top scorer.

There is potentially good news on the horizon though, with Jackson and the talismanic Cole Palmer set to play some part on Thursday night after recovering from injury. The talented yet inconsistent Noni Madueke is also in line for a return.

There's also some encouragement when it comes to Chelsea's home form. Maresca's men have won four and drawn one of their last five Premier League games at Stamford Bridge, and if you go back further it's eight wins from the last 12 PL games on home soil.

Spurs hanging whole season on Europa League tilt

In a long statement accompanying the club's latest financial figures, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy admitted that winning the Europa League is the only way to rescue what's been, as he put it, a "highly challenging" season. Levy also made it plain that Spurs will continue to spend sustainably, and won't be living beyond their means.

That will doubtless further anger a frustrated fanbase, who have watched their team totally lose its way under irascible coach Ange Postecoglou. Spurs have lost a staggering 15 games in the top flight this term, and they are 15 points off the top four. While a severe injury crisis has to be borne in mind, it has still been a hugely disappointing campaign, and there are widespread reports suggesting that replacements for the Australian are being sounded out.

Expected Points models suggest Spurs could be a handful of points better off and a couple of places higher up the table, but they have lost seven of their last 11 road matches in the league, they were smashed by Liverpool in the League Cup semi-finals and they didn't put up much of a fight in a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa in the FA Cup. Against a young and vibrant Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League, they could find themselves in the crosshairs again.

Sweden duo Dejan Kulusveski and Lucas Bergvall hope to return from injury and illness respectively, while Austrian defender Kevin Danso could miss out again with injury.

Spurs fouls the basis of Bet Builder

Despite their patchy form of late, Chelsea should be able to avoid defeat against a flaky and demoralised Spurs side here. The Blues have won their last three Premier League matches against their old capital foes, and they have only lost twice at Stamford Bridge in the league this season.

Spurs just can't be trusted to pick up a positive result here, so I'll start a 8/5 Bet Builder by backing Chelsea/Draw Double Chance.

I'll then add Tottenham to commit 11 fouls or more. Tottenham's average in the Premier League this term is 11.3 per match, which would land our bet, and the last three league meetings between these two have seen Spurs rack up foul tallies of 12, 16 and 17.

If we think Spurs will commit a double-figure number of fouls, then it's worth backing the resurgent Djed Spence to commit at least one foul. The flying full-back has committed at least one foul in nine of his last 12 Premier League appearances, and the last two games have seen him commit two fouls in each of them.

I'll also back 25+ match fouls at 6/5. That has been comfortably reached in all three PL meetings between these sides since the start of last season. Both sets of fans demand action in this particular derby, and it leads to some pretty intense clashes.

Recommended bets

Back Chelsea/Draw, Spurs to commit 11+ fouls and Spence to commit a foul @ 8/5

Back 25+ match fouls @ 6/5