Chelsea vs. Tottenham: How Spurs Should Line Up in London Derby

Thomas CooperDec 2, 2014

Tottenham Hotspur's third London derby of the season is likely to prove their toughest. Chelsea top the Premier League, 13 points clear of their city rivals, and are looking altogether like champions in waiting.

Add to that the fact Tottenham have not won at Stamford Bridge since February 1990, and you have as daunting a trip the north London club are likely to make all year. Off the back of two league wins in a row, however, head coach Mauricio Pochettino will hope his side takes on the Blues in confident fashion.

Here is how Spurs should line up for the game.

Goalkeeper and Defence

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Tim Ireland/Associated Press

Vlad Chiriches should be in line to keep his place for the trip to Chelsea.

Pochettino stuck with the same back five that finished at Hull City for the Everton game: Hugo Lloris in goal, Federico Fazio and Jan Vertonghen at centre-back and Vlad Chiriches and Ben Davies at right- and left-back, respectively.

The decision suggests the head coach believes consistency should be the watchword when it comes to his back five.

Fazio had his best performance since joining Tottenham this summer. Assured in the knowledge Vertonghen was well-positioned beside him, the Argentinian attacked Everton's forward balls confidently and often. The Belgian too had one of his better showings, holding the line well and intervening where necessary.

Chiriches grew into the game, while Davies was alert from the start and rarely beaten. With Lloris in typically solid form behind them all, it was as focused and solid as Spurs have looked all season.

Even without the suspended Diego Costa, Chelsea will be a severe test for this combination. Loic Remy and Didier Drogba are strong cover, and whoever starts out of those two can count on the support of the division's best attacking midfield. Between the skill of Eden Hazard and the edge-of-the-area prowess of Oscar, Chelsea will look to stretch Spurs' defence mercilessly.

Assuming he is fit (team news had not been confirmed at the time of writing) it will be Chiriches' toughest outing yet as a centre-back playing out wide. While he might be the possible weak link of the four—though he has done well there so far—he must be kept on for the sake of the familiarity which has served Spurs well in the past fortnight.

Certainly in its most natural parts, it is the defence which could be the one to best take Tottenham forward into December and beyond.

Midfield

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Alastair Grant/Associated Press

Nabil Bentaleb put in an assured performance against Everton.

Pochettino is also likely to stick with the same midfield which started against Everton.

Aaron Lennon did excellent work teaming with Chiriches to stifle the Toffees' talented left-side duo of Leighton Baines and Kevin Mirallas. The match was too important in itself to be regarded as a rehearsal, but it served that purpose.

The same approach should be utilised against Chelsea, with Lennon also encouraged to get forward when appropriate again.

Starting Christian Eriksen in left midfield at Stamford Bridge is a bigger call than it was at White Hart Lane on Sunday. He pitched in well at times helping Davies on that flank, but there were also occasions when the left-back was left to fend for himself. That's par for the course given the Dane's instructions to come inside to instigate and contribute to attacks from there.

Pochettino will likely ask Eriksen for a little more positional discipline, but stationing him out left with a similar instruction to get forward plenty is a risk worth taking. Sitting back without looking to attack Chelsea is asking for trouble. The 22-year-old's getting on the ball as much as possible will be key to ensuring Spurs won't be pegged back to damaging effect.

In between Eriksen and Lennon, there seems little reason to move away from Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason in central midfield.

The young duo passed the ball well against Everton and got forward intelligently when situations naturally arose (they did well not to get in Eriksen's way for instance, supporting him and the attack). Crucially, they showed they were capable of pressing where needed and knew when to hold the fort and protect their defence.

The all-round qualities of Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas should provide trickier adversaries in all those areas. The youthful energy and burgeoning midfield smarts of Bentaleb and Mason are likely to give Spurs as good a chance as anyone to stop them, or at least deny them from having their own way entirely.

Attack

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Harry Kane continued his fine recent form in the win over the Toffees.

Harry Kane is a certainty to start against Chelsea. He was terrific against Everton, working the channels well and dropping deep to link up and pitch in when required. His increasing confidence was seen in the way he frequently (and on a few occasions successfully), picked up the ball in the centre circle and ran down the back-pedaling Merseysiders defence.

Starting Roberto Soldado with Kane against the Blues will not be such an easy decision to make. The Spaniard's presence would mean a relatively adventurous setup from Tottenham, one clearly not designed to stop Chelsea playing but to cause the home side some problems.

The risk of Jose Mourinho's team overwhelming Spurs further back there is a clear one. But as noted on the previous page, it could be just as bad if they sit back and invite them onto them. Chelsea's relentlessness would surely expose a conservative strategy soon enough.

Soldado's presence would mean Spurs have someone to occupy the Blues' back four in moments when the versatile Kane is needed to help out a little further back. It would also allow them more of a chance to cause problems further forward when they do win possession.

After he scored the winner against Everton, it also has to be worth seeing if this run of games really can help Soldado to find some genuine form in front of goal.

There is a case for dropping him in favour of using Kane as a lone striker for this game. But the chance another start could be the making of the Spaniard in England has to one worth taking.