Fifteen Years & Thirty Games - And Counting?
By BlueBlood
January 14 2005
The last time Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea in a League game was way back in 1990. Tottenham won 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, with goals from Gary (Match of the Day) Lineker and David Howells.
Since the Premiership was formed way back in the early 90s Chelsea and Tottenham have played each other twenty-five times, of which Chelsea have won fifteen and the other ten have ended in draws, scoring forty-eight times in the process and only conceding eighteen. The most memorable of these victories came in 1997 when Chelsea, under the leadership of Ruud Gullit, travelled to White Hart Lane to play Tottenham who then had only just appointed Christian Gross as their new manager. What a managerial debut for Gross. At half-time with the score at 1-1, nobody could have expected the events of the second. Five second half Chelsea goals, ripped the heart out of Tottenham, their fans and no doubt their manager. A result which took Tottenham such a long time to recover from. For the record, the goalscorers that day were: Vega (Tottenham) and Flo (3), di Matteo, Petrescu and Mark Nicholls (Chelsea) Tottenham 1-6 Chelsea. Looks quite good. Although Tottenham's results in the League against Chelsea have been poor, they did wallop the Blues in the League Cup Semi-Final 5-1 back in 2002 and subsequently went on to win the Final. Things have changed in the fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Since the departure of Santini and the appointment of Martin Jol, Spurs have gone from strength to strength. Now challenging for a place in Europe, scoring goals at home at will, for example two five goal victories in three home games Chelsea's dominance over their North London rivals looks to be in doubt. There is no reason why that Tottenham cannot win tomorrow. Chelsea, seven points clear at the top of the Premiership have got to be at their best and every player on the top of his game. Chelsea target Jermaine Defoe will be a far different player than he was in the dour (lets park the bus in the penalty area) 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season and he is my man to watch. Knowing JM and the way that he has prepared for big matches in the past, he will leave nothing to chance. With the return of Rockin' Robben from suspension, we can expect a cracking game of end to end entertaining football and for me this is a 'squeaky bum' game. In the event of a defeat it will not be the end of the world (as we know it), if Arsenal win we will still be four points clear. But a win will put the pressure on Arsenal again, who travel to Bolton in the late afternoon kick off. And don't Arsenal tend to have difficulty playing Bolton? Tomorrow could well turn out to be another defining moment to the destination of the Premiership title. Probable team: Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Gallas (Carvalho), Bridge (Gallas), Makelele, Duff, Lampard, Cole (Tiago), Robben, Gudjohnsen COME ON CHELSEA!! Team News, Latest News, Scores and Scorers will be posted on the message board from about 2pm (3pm Kick Off)