Tottenham vs. Chelsea: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur will renew their rivalry on New Year's Day, when the two London-based clubs meet at White Hart Lane to kick off 2015 in epic fashion.

The Blues are at the top of the Premier League standings and have their eye on the title, but while Spurs only sit a disappointing seventh, the hosts have really turned things around in recent weeks after a difficult start to the campaign.

Manchester United failed to put the ball past Hugo Lloris in Week 19, and Spurs will be counting on a repeat performance from their star goalkeeper.

Date: January 1, 2015

Time: 5.30 p.m. GMT/12:30 p.m. ET

Venue: White Hart Lane, London

TV Info and Live Stream: The match will be broadcast on BT Sport 1 (for UK viewers), with mobile coverage available via the BT Sport player app.

Preview

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Casual fans may not be aware of this, but the rivalry between Chelsea and Tottenham has reached almost epic proportions in the past decade. As detailed by the London Evening Standard's Simon Johnson, Roman Abramovich nearly bought Spurs instead of the Blues, setting off a chain reaction that has led to today.

How bad has it become? This is how BT Sport advertised Thursday's marquee fixture:

And this is how most Chelsea fans appear to feel about Spurs these days:

Neither team will need any extra incentive to play hard on Thursday, but there are a handful of interesting storylines going into the match nonetheless.

Jose Mourinho has made the news with a series of comments about a so-called "campaign" against the Blues, and Fox Sports' Jonathan Wilson has a theory about why the Portuguese manager has been so keen to voice his concerns.

Lost in the controversy is the fact Chelsea's recent form away from Stamford Bridge hasn't been all that great:

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Jose Mourinho roars 'a conspiracy,' and suddenly the fact that Chelsea has taken just five points from its last four away league games is overshadowed by his ludicrous claims of a "campaign" to portray his side as divers.

So blatant are his attempts at media manipulation these days that nobody takes the allegation seriously, but in a sense that doesn't matter: Mourinho's point was to divert attention away from Chelsea's stuttering away results, and that has been achieved—even if the discussion is mostly centred on how absurd what he said was.

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Chelsea's lead at the top of the Premier League is just three points—the Blues can ill afford any more slip-ups right now. That's bad news when you consider the fact Tottenham haven't lost in their last five matches.

Federico Fazio is proud of what he and his team-mates have achieved in recent weeks, and per the Premier League's official Twitter feed, he urged everyone to continue their momentum:

Spurs' defence is still considered to be their weak link—the club has kept just one clean sheet in their last four outings—which is why Week 19's result against United is cause for optimism. Yes, Lloris had the kind of match fans will talk about for months to come, but the back four finally showed a semblance of consistency.

They'll have to be at their very best against Chelsea and their league-best attack, and with Eden Hazard once again in top form, you have to like the Blues' chances of at least putting one goal past Lloris.

Can Spurs hand the Blues their second loss of the season? Chelsea are undefeated in their last 10 against Tottenham, per WhoScored.com, so history suggests it's unlikely.

Final prediction: Tottenham 2-2 Chelsea

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