Tottenham vs Chelsea, The Barclays Premier Leagaue White Hart Lane, Sunday 29th November 2015, Kick Off 12pm Local Time.
On paper this should be the game of the weekend but we jut wonder how positive Chelsea will be considering their fragile confidence and Tottenham’s recent form. Would they take a point now or will Jose push for three? He seemed categoric in his press conference.
SOUND BITES
As you would fully expect from a manager of this experience and calibre, Jose Mourinho sounded the battle cry for the season by saying that his team will play every game as if:
“we are fighting for the title”.
“The reality is that we need points,”
“We are all focused on doing our job the best we can. The only thing we can do is try to get the maximum amount of points.
“Chelsea is a big club, big clubs have difficult moments and cope with them. They try to build to have good moments again.”
The boss also gave his thought son Tottenham:
“When I watched them play this (their form) is not a surprise for me,”
“If people told me they were fighting for the title then I would not laugh, I would accept it because the team is very good.
“The manager is good, the players are good, they have good stability and are a really, really good team.”
INJURIES
“Today JT didn’t train but we have a little hope it’s possible (he plays). I have complete trust in Cahill and Zouma,” said Mourinho.
Mourinho also suggested that Chelsea’s imperious keeper Thibaut Courtois would be back in contention for selection by the middle of December.
TRANSFERS
Asked whether Chelsea would be making any signings in the winter window Jose was less assured in his response than in recent times but he did maintain that:
“There is still one month to go (until the transfer window opens), but I don’t think so,”
“I know which players are possible, which players are impossible, but also what I told you: I will not ask for players to the board. I will try and do the best job I can and get the best results I can with the players we have.”
We aren’t so sure about that one. Jose loves to keep his cards velcroed to his chest in these matters and we would still be surprised if the squad was unchanged come February.
PREDICTIONS
With all this in mind, here is our predicted XI for what should be an entertaining encounter.
Prediction: Tottenham 1 – 1 Chelsea
