There are few better ways for the Blues to right the wrongs of last weekend's defeat to Sunderland than by claiming victory on Tottenham soil and leapfrogging Thomas Frank's side in the Premier League table.
Spurs have the best away record in the top flight this term but have not been as convincing on their own patch, with two defeats in their four matches in north London.
On Wednesday, both the Blues and Tottenham were in Carabao Cup action. Spurs were knocked out at Newcastle United, while Chelsea survived a second-half scare to win 4-3 at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Enzo Maresca’s side will take on Cardiff City of League One in the last eight, the club’s fifth quarter-final appearance in 10 seasons.
The first Saturday in November usually means fireworks, and Chelsea will be confident of putting on a display equal to the one across the borough at Ally Pally.
The west Londoners have completed the league double over our N17 neighbours in back-to-back seasons, and we are the most successful visiting side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, claiming five victories in our six matches.
The world champions are also unbeaten in our previous seven London debies, and our most recent turnout in this Saturday evening slot brought the thrilling victory over Liverpool.
Chelsea team news
Cole Palmer remains sidelined as he continues to recover from a groin issue. Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile and Dario Essugo are also ruled out due to injury. Liam Delap is suspended due to the red card he was shown in midweek.
Joao Pedro didn't feature at Molineux as he continues to be managed by the Blues coaching staff, while Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo were second-half substitutes. Yet Maresca confirmed the trio are ready to feature in north London if called upon.
'They are okay, they are available,' he said. 'The reason why Joao didn’t play against Wolves is that we tried to protect him. It was the same thing with Moi and with Enzo, just giving them some minutes, but the idea is to protect these players.
'Game by game, we can’t plan with them because of their problems, their situations. So, it's about taking it game-by-game and seeing how many minutes we can use them. We try to use the whole squad because, at this moment, we need the whole squad.'
The history
Chelsea have won 68 of the league matches in this 115-year-old cross-town rivalry, the most against any club.
Twenty-nine of those have come at the Cockerels’ home, which has, after a 12-year unbeaten run between 1989 and 2001, been known to Blues supporters as ‘Three Point Lane’.
The west triumphing over north London bias continued after White Hart Lane was demolished in 2017, with a fine Marcos Alonso securing a 2-1 win at Tottenham’s temporary Wembley home.
Since a defeat at the national stadium in October 2018, the Blues have won five of our six league fixtures in N17, starting with our debut appearance at their current ground in December 2019.
Two goals from Willian without reply delivered the early Christmas present of three points – and the next two visits were wins to nil.
A 2-0 loss under Graham Potter in November 2023 was followed by Chelsea’s biggest win on Tottenham's own patch since the legendary 6-1 in December 1997.
A string of VAR decisions, disallowed goals and sending-offs made for irresistible drama and the Blues' 4-1 victory came despite Dejan Kulusevski’s opener.
Last season’s encounter was almost as strange. Again, Spurs took the lead, and were two up before the west Londoners got into gear.
Jadon Sancho pulled one back, but it was past the hour before the impressive Cole Palmer levelled with the first of two penalties. Enzo Fernandez put Maresca’s side ahead before Palmer’s second from the spot with five to go. Son Heung-Min's last-minute strike was not enough and Chelsea stayed second with the win.
The one-sided nature of this derby in the Premier League era is reflected in a disparity of 116 in goal difference between the two sides from our meetings ( +58 for the Blues; -58 for the Lilywhites).
Chelsea vs Tottenham Premier League derbies
Games
Won
Drawn
Lost
Goal difference
Points
Points per game
Chelsea
+58
Tottenham
-58
Know this...
At 87.1 per cent accuracy, Chelsea’s passing is the second most accurate in the Premier League, behind Manchester City’s 88.2 per cent.
Alejandro Garnacho’s opener against Sunderland was the Blues’ 101st consecutive Premier League goal from a player under the age of 30 (excluding own goals).
The Blues have committed the eighth-most fouls in the top flight, but received the equal-fourth highest number of yellow cards. We have also suffered the third-most fouls, but seen the equal-sixth highest amount of opposition cautions.
Almost 30 per cent of Spurs’ goals (five of 17) were headers scored in two games – two against West Ham United and three at Everton last weekend.
Chelsea have netted eight goals from set-plays, better than any rival except Arsenal (nine). Tottenham’s tally of five is third-best.
The west Londoners have won three, drawn three and lost three of the nine encounters with Thomas Frank's sides.
Tottenham currently have the best shot conversion rate in the Premier League with 18.1 per cent, while Chelsea’s is fifth-best at 13.9 per cent.
In the Carabao Cup at Wolverhampton, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to have four different goalscorers aged 21 or younger in the same match across all competition - Andrey Santos (21), Tyrique George (19), Estevao Willian (18) and Jamie Gittens (21).
Both clubs have Champions League matches in a few days’ time. Spurs host Copenhagen on Tuesday, while Chelsea are in Azerbaijan to face Qarabag a day later.
