Overview
While Liverpool are sinking deeper into a comprehensive crisis and Manchester City continue to fluctuate between highs and disappointments, Arsenal currently have a 4-point advantage in the Premier League top before round 10. According to Opta's supercomputer prediction, Mikel Arteta and his team have a 68.2% chance of winning the championship.
confidence in Tottenham has now declined, with Opta only assessing their title chances at 1.1%. However, a win against Chelsea will help Thomas Frank's team consolidate their position in the top 3.
Spurs are currently 5 points behind Arsenal and 1 point behind Bournemouth - the team that will visit Man City - after a 3-0 victory over Everton last week. That result also helped them become the first away team to win all 3 points at Hill Dickinson Stadium this season.
Micky van de Ven shined with a double from two headers, becoming the first Spurs defender to do so in the Premier League since Jan Vertonghen (March 2013, against Liverpool).
The upcoming match will mark Van de Ven's 50th Premier League appearance, and statistics show that he is an important factor for the "Rooster". Spurs have averaged 1.7 points per game for his time there, compared to just 1.1 without him.
This season, 5 out of Tottenham's 17 goals (equivalent to 29.4%) have come from headers. And it all took place in 2 matches: Pape Matar Sarr and Lucas Begvall scored against West Ham, while Van de Ven (2) and Sarr scored against Everton.
This is Spurs' highest head-to-head tally in a Premier League season since the 1998-1999 campaign (34%), demonstrating why Frank have turned them into a more dangerous and uncomfortable team than ever.
While Tottenham had to stop at the Carabao Cup round 4 after losing to defending champions Newcastle, Chelsea are preparing for the quarter-final against Cardiff City. However, the victory over Wolves was still not enough to calm the wave of criticism aimed at coach Enzo Maresca.
Despite taking an early 3-0 lead in the first half thanks to goals from Andrey Santos, Tyrique George and Estevao, Chelsea - with a squad that was almost completely rotated - almost dropped the victory. They let their opponents reduce the score to 2-3 and then 3-4 in the final minutes, before Jamie Gittens made a beautiful volley to seal the final result.
The blue team also suffered losses when Liam Delap received two yellow cards and was sent off, which means he will be suspended for this weekend's match.
Last week, Chelsea surprisingly let Sunderland beat them 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, marking the third defeat in their last five Premier League games (W2). This result caused Maresca's team to fall to ninth place in the rankings.
Notably, The Blues have lost more in their last five games than in their previous 16 league games (W10 D4 L2). If they continue to stumble, they could suffer four defeats in their opening 10 games of the season. This has only happened to them twice in the last 30 seasons - in 2015-2016 (5 losses) and 2023-2024 (4 matches).
Like Tottenham, Chelsea often play better away from home. The Blues have won four of their last seven away games in the Premier League (D1 L2), after a run of eight without a win.
Head-to-head record
Tottenham have won just one of their last 13 Premier League meetings with Chelsea (D2 L10). They have lost four consecutive games since a 2-0 home win in February 2023, when Cristian Stellini took over from Antonio Conte.
In addition to that defeat, Chelsea have won five of their last six visits to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League - the best record of any team traveling to the stadium.
Score prediction: Tottenham 3-2 Chelsea
The match between Tottenham and Chelsea takes place at 0:30 am on November 2 (Vietnam time).
