Late Saturday afternoon gives Chelsea the opportunity to continue their unbeaten start, in all competitions, to the season.
But, with Tottenham Hotspur providing the opposition, at a partisan Wembley, this fixture could, quite possibly, be classified as the hardest Chelsea will have faced this season with our North London rivals having aspirations of making a title challenge themselves.
So, if Sarri is going to inspire his side to continue their fine run, what are the dangers presented by Tottenham Hotspur?
Here at Vital Chelsea, we’ve picked three players, likely to be in the starting eleven for Tottenham that could de-rail that unbeaten start.
The first is Christian Eriksen. The Dane has been troubled by injury this season but is now back to full fitness and is likely to start. Erikson has the unerring ability to pick out the perfect pass thereby creating chances for the more attack-minded players in his side. The Dane is also dangerous from free-kicks adjacent to the penalty area, if Chelsea are foolish enough to give him time on the ball or commit rash fouls some twenty-yards out, they could be punished.
The second is Harry Kane. To me Kane is something of an enigma, he never looks as if he is a world-class striker but his goals-per-game ration proves otherwise. He doesn’t possess that devastating turn of speed some have and he doesn’t glide past players at will, but he just has that marvellous knack of being in the right place at the right time to plunder goal after goal, the mark of a great striker I guess. Chelsea will be wise to keep a tight grip of Kane and don’t allow him any space in the penalty area, they’ll also need to keep tight on him and prevent him from holding up the ball and bringing other players into the game.
The third is Dele Alli. The England midfielder seems to love playing against Chelsea and has that knack of scoring against us. Who’ll ever forget the marvellous run of 13 consecutive victories Antonio Conte orchestrated in our last Premier League title-winning season, a run that was unceremoniously ended, at White Hart Lane, when Dele Alli netted a brace, or even the FA Cup semi-final, at Wembley, when he finished off a superb ball from Christian Eriksen. The former MK Dons player is certainly one Chelsea need to keep tracks on.
Now, I’ve highlighted three of the threats in the Tottenham Hotspur side but I’m guessing they’ll be doing just the same when it comes to trying to work out how to stop Chelsea, but which three players, in blue, do you feel can swing the game in Chelsea’s favour?
Please feel free to drop your choices into the comment facility beneath this article.