Chelsea find themselves five points behind Tottenham in the Premier League table as they prepare to host Mauricio Pochettino’s side this weekend.
Antonio Conte knows that a defeat would most likely be terminal to the Blues’ hopes of earning a Champions League spot this season but Spurs have not won at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League era.
That creates some pressing questions for the Italian ahead of the vital clash and we’ve taken a look at three of them.
Getting these big calls right is what Conte did by and large last season but the Italian hasn’t quite had the same magic touch this season and Pochettino might well smell blood in the water. If there is a time to break the duck, this is it.
Conte will be pleased that he doesn’t have to deal with the prospect of Harry Kane but there are still no shortage of issues to resolve with his own squad. Football FanCast take a closer look…
Who partners Kante?
N’Golo Kante has moved up another level this season, clearly buoyed by the way he has adapted to the Champions League in his maiden campaign and he will be vital here.
However, Conte has three predominant choices with whom to partner the Frenchman; Danny Drinkwater, Cesc Fabregas and Tiemoue Bakayoko. Whichever man he chooses in the engine room could well be an indicator of how he plans to approach the game.
Bakayoko is probably the most conservative option – not that he’s had a great season, but he has the physicality to compete with Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama – while playing Fabregas would suggest that Conte wants his side to get on the ball and take the game to their visitors.
Conte has struggled to get the balance right in the big matches and protect his back three and with Spurs’ array of attacking midfielders, he needs to rectify that here.
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Go for the jugular?
Winning this match would take Chelsea to within just two points of their opponents and we’ve already mentioned Spurs’ awful Stamford Bridge record, which is sure to be playing on the minds of their players.
That might tempt Conte into taking the game to the visitors. So might the fact that even a draw leaves the five-point gap between the London rivals in tact with just seven games to go.
But does Conte risk it and go all out for the win when a defeat would be so damaging? It looks like he has to, especially given that Spurs have lost away at Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal as well as coming within a whisker of losing to Liverpool on the road this term.
This is a Blues side on patchy form and Conte’s biggest job might be instilling his players with the confidence to go out and take the game to Spurs.
Who is Spurs’ biggest threat in the absence of Kane?
Usually, identifying Tottenham’s main threat is easy – it’s Harry Kane. Yet, in his absence Spurs have forged a more balanced and fluid front-line and I would expect Heung-min Son to play as the furthest forward of those players.
That’s a different threat for Chelsea’s back three to deal with, but you’d have to make the South Korean the danger man in the form he is on currently.
Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen shone in the FA Cup quarter-final cruise past Swansea on 17 March; the former scored once, the latter twice so Spurs have three forwards going into this one full of form and confidence.
Having been shunted down the England pecking order, Dele Alli should have a point to prove as well and that foursome might prove more potent than if three of them were tasked with flitting around Kane.
