Form Tottenham Host Champions Chelsea

Mourinho’s side head to White Hart Lane after keeping two confidence-boosting clean sheets, first in last weekend’s victory over Norwich City and then in the midweek Champions League success against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

And this Sunday, Mauricio Pochettino’s team will get a real test of their mettle against a desperate Chelsea and one would have to imagine that the reigning champions’ Champions League hopes for next season are over – unless they win this year’s competition.

Spurs have been in exceptional form in the league of late and not lost since the opening day of the season, away to Manchester United.

“Chelsea have very good players and a great manager”, Pochettino said.

He said: “Ask me who is the best coach in the English league and I would say Jose Mourinho”. “You can bring in young players without problems, even if they’re not ready”.

Kane has come “to epitomise Pochettino’s team, leading from the front with boundless enthusiasm”, says Jolly.

Kane ran Chelsea’s defence ragged that afternoon, turning Gary Cahill this way and that, tormenting a back line far more solid than the one this season which has only been breached more times than the five teams below them and twice as much as the teams who will challenge for European qualification.

Nabil Bentaleb (ankle) and Erik Lamela (groin) could be in line for a return to the squad for the clash, but the match will come too soon for Nacer Chadli (ankle) and Dele Alli will miss out through suspension. It’s very hard because both decisions are bad.

“They were very impressive that day because I think we were the better side but they just knew how to win”. Mourinho thinks that Spurs” top-four rivals are comparatively under more pressure than themselves as no-one thinks of Tottenham as “title-contenders’. “They are in the Europa League, in the group phase, and no one cares about that at this stage”, he added.

Despite scoring 21 Premier League goals for Tottenham last term, Kane endured a run of going six top-flight games without a goal at the beginning of this season – which caused some to question whether he could repeat his heroics of last season.

A positive result against Tottenham is needed if they want to begin a push back up the table before the end of 2015. Manager is good, players are good.

“They go smoothly, step by step”. Last season we scored a lot of goals in the last minute so that shows just how fit we are.

“Tottenham has always been a massive club and we’re getting the mix right”. “You have to anticipate things and read the game faster”.

“It’s not a complaint but this is the reality when you play Thursday, and you have a long trip home and play again on Sunday morning”.