Three Reasons Why Chelsea MUST Beat Tottenham on Sunday

Chelsea FC have been in extremely poor form for more than a month, with goals, and therefore points, difficult to find in the Barclays Premier League and in Europe.

A win on Sunday against high-flying Tottenham can be enough to galvanize this experienced Chelsea side and get their season back on track. 

If the Blues do not manage to beat Spurs at White Hart Lane, this result will likely serve as a chilling prologue to Chelsea's two subsequent fixtures against Manchester United and Arsenal.

Picking up fewer than seven points in these three matches will all but guarantee that the Premier League trophy leaves Stamford Bridge in May, with Old Trafford or the Emirates likely destinations.

Chelsea must win this game because Manchester United and Arsenal will be eagerly watching for their rivals to slip up, thus enabling Sir Alex Ferguson to pinpoint Chelsea's weakest areas at present.

The result of this is two-fold, really. First, a loss to Tottenham in this London derby will be demoralizing and will surely have a massively negative impact on the team's ability to play positive, attacking football.

Second, Manchester United will be confident that they can beat this Chelsea side if they see Spurs contribute handily to Chelsea's dire form.

Chelsea seem to have lost their ability to sit back and absorb pressure, so a United side operating at a high tempo from kick-off could spell disaster.

The league form that Chelsea bring into this game is so dreadful that even the Premier League's basement dwellers, West Ham United, have picked up more points in the last six games.

Football is a game in which form is categorically important, so Spurs will be licking their lips as they gaze hungrily at the blue meal on the form table.

The Blues have picked up just five points from a possible 18 in their last six matches against Liverpool, Fulham, Sunderland, Birmingham City, Newcastle, and Everton...six teams that fans and pundits alike would have predicted in Chelsea's favor.

If Chelsea win this match, they will be unbeaten in three games, which might just be enough to see them through this difficult patch relatively unscathed.

In order to win a match, one of the sides must score goals, something that Chelsea have found unprepossessingly difficult as of late.

Over the past six games, Chelsea have averaged 0.5 goals per game. That's correct, the same side that averaged 4.2 goals per game in the first five games of the season have found the back of the net just three times in 540 minutes of football.

Similarly, Chelsea have also scored just three times in their last six away fixtures, which cannot be of any comfort to Carlo Ancelotti's boys.

The key here is goals, and if Chelsea don't manage to get off the mark against Spurs, it's likely that this exiguous return in front of goal will continue against Manchester United and Arsenal.

The likes of Drogba, Malouda, and Anelka need to start scoring again on Sunday, or Chelsea's title hopes will be at best vestigial.

The Blues have looked prosaic lately in the Premier League, and must send a signal to their rivals by beating Tottenham on Sunday at White Hart Lane.

If they do manage to win, English football could witness the recrudescence of Chelsea's title aspirations.

But if they draw or lose, the momentum will be against them going into two of the biggest matches of the season, and that could prove disastrous for this Chelsea team so disparate to the one that started the season in top gear.