Tottenham go into this weekend’s Premier League match against Chelsea buoyed by the news that Jan Vertonghen could make his first appearance in almost two months.

The Belgian international has not featured for Spurs since their 2-0 victory over Huddersfield Town on September 29, having been sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Whether Mauricio Pochettino is prepared to throw him back in the deep end immediately remains to be seen, but with Davinson Sanchez sidelined (hamstring) unavailable, additional options at centre back will be well received.

Elsewhere, Mousa Dembele (ankle) and Kieran Trippier (groin) are also sidelined.

It's a London derby! And yet another held at Wembley on a pitch struggling to cope. That said, the ground didn't make too much of an impact during Man City's 1-0 win against Spurs and Mauricio Pochettino's men have secured vital results there on it already.

Next up is Chelsea and their version of Sarri-ball. How can Spurs stop them?

Take Jorginho out of the game
Eden Hazard is the scariest of the players Spurs will have to defend against on Saturday but focusing attention on a player further away from goal might be key to stopping Chelsea from scoring.

No player has touched the ball more times or made more passes in the Premier League season than Jorginho. The Italian international dictates the tempo of Chelsea's play from the 'six' position slightly deeper than the two more attacking central midfielders, moving constantly to find space and keep the ball moving.

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Before the 0-0 draw with Everton, Jorginho had averaged 115 touches per game and 105.62 passes per game with 88.71 per cent accuracy.

Everton were able to disrupt the flow of Chelsea's passing by blocking Jorginho out of the game, having Gylfi Sigurdsson and Richarlison stay tight and get close to him at all times. Sigurdsson's touchmap shows how similar the positions he had the ball in were to Jorginho's position.

Touchmap for Chelsea 0 Everton 0, Jorginho in light blue, Gylfi Sigurdsson dark blue
Touchmap for Chelsea 0 Everton 0, Jorginho in light blue, Gylfi Sigurdsson dark blue CREDIT: OPTA

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Chelsea
As a result of this close attention from Richarlison and Sigurdsson, Jorginho only made 60 touches and 50 passes - almost half his season's average. Coincidentally, or not, Chelsea failed to score for only the third time all season.

Spurs can do similar by tasking one of Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli or Erik Lamela to stay tight as Harry Kane drops back to assist in minimising Jorginho's influence, therefore disrupting Chelsea's style of play.

Force play out wide
Eden Hazard might not be fit in time for this game but the worry for Spurs is that he's not the only threat in front of goal they need to be wary of - Willian is the most prolific creator of chances in the league this season.


Spurs play with two holding midfielders in their 4-2-3-1 shape and both of these must defend the half-spaces against Chelsea's inside-forwards to ensure Willian or Pedro can't easily leave their wide starting positions to move inside the pitch.

One defensive strategy might be to sit in a lower, central block than Spurs usually do in order to force those Chelsea forwards wide and out to the wings. When wide their option will be to cross it into a hot-and-cold Alvaro Morata (or Olivier Giroud) or pass backwards/sideways, rather than run with the ball and attack the defence like they'd prefer.

This would also lend well to the direct counter-attack strategy Pochettino may favour, with Chelsea averaging 63.3 per cent possession to Spurs' 56.2 per cent, it makes sense to block the space for Chelsea players to pass into and focus on quick transitions to exploit a vulnerable defensive shape.

Win the battle of the full-backs
Kieran Trippier is another injury doubt for this game and his erratic form has caused problems for Spurs this season, with one particular decision to nutmeg someone on the edge of his own box ending in a penalty to Wolves. Serge Aurier is the backup and is another player prone to attempting risky business in unwise situations.

Aurier is great at attacking but can be caught out of position when defending and has only made three Premier League appearances this season - two of those off the bench.


Chelsea have heavy firepower down their left flank with Marcos Alonso having 1130 touches of the ball this season - the fourth most of any player in the league - and possibility Hazard moving inside the pitch from wide left. Another concern is that Juan Foyth may have to play due to concerns over Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez's fitness and though he clearly has potential, inexperience can lead to the kind of mistakes that Chelsea will be looking for.

Pochettino might be tempted to play a back three protected by a defensive two at times for that reason, with Eric Dier able to switch between centre-back and defensive midfielder, and Aurier able to both track Alonso's runs and take up a more advanced starting position in order to exploit space left behind when Alonso goes wandering forward.

1X kawai. Spurs we de una back. As a united fan, draw will do

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