Tottenham have the chance to justify pre-season talk of eclipsing Chelsea with victory over their manager Antonio Conte’s old team at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, writes Frank Dalleres.
It is notoriously futile to the point of being foolish to attempt to divine anything approximating the final Premier League table from the opening skirmishes of the season.
Anyone doing so a year ago would probably have written off Manchester City’s chances of defending their crown – only to see them hoisting the trophy again nine months later.
Yet equally it is irresistible, and the diverging trajectories of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur make it too tempting not to see Sunday’s meeting between the teams as an early barometer of which club will emerge as the best in London this term.
Also Read: Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea chapter nears its end but next owner faces stern test
Spurs head to Stamford Bridge in buoyant mood. Their strong end to the last campaign, which culminated in clinching a return to the Champions League, reinforced the sense that Antonio Conte has engineered lasting improvement.
That optimism has only been fortified by a refreshingly prompt and fuss-free summer of transfer business which has replenished the squad in key areas – wing-back, central midfield and attack – with the sort of battle-ready characters so beloved of Conte.
To the surprise of nobody, they swatted aside a thin looking Southampton side 4-1 as they hit the ground running last weekend.
Chelsea are prisoners of a different narrative, one still defined by the extraordinary ousting of their former owner Roman Abramovich earlier this year.
While the Russian’s sanctioning drained the life out of the Blues’ run-in, the takeover by Todd Boehly’s consortium that it necessitated also hamstrung their preparations for the new season, leaving them behind their rivals on recruitment.
The result is that, despite high-profile signings including Raheem Sterling, they have not yet replaced all of the senior players that departed over the summer, manager Thomas Tuchel has cut a moody figure and they needed a penalty to edge out Everton on the first weekend.
Pre-season was awash with predictions that Conte’s new team would overtake his old one this year and provide the closest thing to a challenge to the division’s top two, Manchester City and Liverpool.
It is conceivable that Chelsea may not even be the second best team in the capital, with Arsenal tipped to give them a run for their Champions League place.
Equally, the restless summer at Stamford Bridge could give way to more placid times and Tuchel could re-establish their place as London’s superior outfit.
History is on the hosts’ side on Sunday: Chelsea have not lost in their last seven meetings with Tottenham, conceding just once in that period.
Sterling is confident that he has joined a team heading in the right direction, having grown frustrated with his increasingly peripheral role at City.
“It’s a team that’s competing and only going to get better,” he said yesterday. “With the new ownership as well, it made a lot of sense.
With a World Cup looming, the England forward has taken a gamble on increased game time in the hope that Chelsea are indeed competitive.
The usual caveats about disregarding early-season form aside, Sunday might give us some idea of whether £50m Sterling’s bet is likely to pay off.
