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This preview was written by Brian Judson

Full Record of Tottenham Hotspur -v- Chelsea



Prem           Pl   W   D   L   For-Ag  Pts
Home            7   0   4   3     7-14   4
Away            8   0   3   5     6-14   3
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Total (Prem)   15   0   7   8    13-28   7
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1)   42  20   9  13    79-57  51
Away (Div 1)   42  19   6  17    63-50  46
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Total (Div 1)  84  39  15  30   142-107 97
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2)    2   1   1   0     7-4    3
Away (Div 2)    2   0   1   1     1-4    1
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Total (Div 2)   4   1   2   1     8-8    4
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Total (Prem)   15   0   7   8    13-28   7
Total (Div 1)  84  39  15  30   142-107 97
Total (Div 2)   4   1   2   1     8-8    4
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Grand Total   103  40  24  39   163-143 108
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Let us begin this preview by dealing with the most dismal aspect of it first. The following is the dreadful sequence of results over the years since 1986-87 :

SEASON  HOME AWAY
1986-87 1-3  2-0
1987-88 1-0  0-0
1989-90 1-4  2-1
1990-91 1-1  2-3
1991-92 1-3  0-2
1992-93 1-2  1-1
1993-94 1-1  3-4
1994-95 0-0  1-1
1995-96 1-1  0-0
1996-97 1-2  1-3
1997-98 1-6  0-2
1998-99 2-2  0-2
1999-00      0-1

It is only a few weeks since I said I believe that our record against Chelsea is currently the worst of all our sequences against opposing teams. We have never beaten them in the Premier League and we have to go all the way back to season 1989-90 for our last victory over them.

In the game played at Stamford Bridge on January 12th 2000, we more than held our own for 87 minutes of the match. Although we dictated much of the play, our attacks foundered on the solid goalkeeping of Ed de Goey, who was unflappable. Our concentration was missing when George Weah, who had joined Chelsea that week on loan, scored his first goal for Chelsea with less than three minutes to play. It was cruel to lose so narrowly after a solid performance.

As Les Ferdinand has been declared unfit, we will again be fielding Chris Armstrong and Steffan Iversen as our strike force. It is unfortunate that we have not been able to solve our striking problems. But, as manager George Graham has pointed out, the players that we would want to sign, are all tied up on long contracts. We do not want quick fixes from players who are looking for a fortune on a short term contract. I have still not forgotten how close we came to going out of business in 1991.

If we needed any reminder of the folly of paying huge wages for a quick fix, we only need to look at Swindon Town. They went down the road of buying players whose wages they could not really afford on the gates they were getting and have been losing £25,000 a week. If we adopted a scattergun approach to solving some of our intractable problems up front and in midfield, we could easily find ourselves in the same position as we were nine years ago, given that only 10 clubs out of the 92 in the Premier and Football Leagues are making a profit. It would be interesting and instructive if we knew how Chelsea were coping financially, considering they have been spending money in the past two seasons as if it has been going out of fashion. I think they will have a bill to pay eventually for all the spending they have made. Certainly, they have seen little tangible return for the reported £10M outlay on Chris Sutton.

Chelsea have been a tremendous disappointment this season. Undoubtedly the reason for this is due to their concentration on the Champions League at the expense of the domestic competitions. Since thrashing Manchester United 5-0 at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have dramatically faded from the hunt for the championship. It will take a miracle for them to re-join the pacemakers at the top as they cannot afford to lose any more matches or drop any more points. I think one of the reasons for their decline, in addition to their concentrating on the Champions League, has been due to the indiscipline of a number of their players. Dennis Wise, for example, is still incurring the wrath of the match officials whilst Frank Leboeuf expressed surprise about being dismissed after being clearly seen to stamp on Harry Kewell when Chelsea played Leeds. Suspensions have cost Chelsea dearly.

Another reason why I suspect Chelsea have not done so well this season has been the disappointing form of Zola. Last season, he was irrepressible with his non-stop jinking but this season he has struggled to recapture his form and has been dropped from the team. Zola recently expressed disappointment about this and talked about seeking a transfer away from Stamford Bridge.

I suspect Vialli has been worried about Chelsea's lack of form. This may explain why he has re-registered himself as a player and been playing in reserve team games to regain match fitness. It is probably unlikely he will feature in tomorrow afternoon's match, though, although he may be tempted to name himself as one of the substitutes.

Following our home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday two weeks ago, it is imperative that we get back to winning form if we are to qualify for Europe. Our recent form against Chelsea suggests that a win will be very unlikely. For the reasons set out above, Chelsea will want to win this match as much as we do and their firepower is probably stronger than ours. But I think we are capable of snatching a draw, providing everyone concentrates for the whole 90 minutes and the crowd gets behind every single Spurs player, irrespective of whether they would not figure in our preferred line-up. Everyone will have to be patient since the game is likely to be very tight. I would not be surprised if it turns out to be a goal-less draw but if we do score, then I would expect Chelsea to snatch a late equaliser, given our inability to concentrate in the dying moments of the game.

COME ON YOU SPURS!

Cheers, Brian

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