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With about a quarter of the season gone, the Premier League table looks much tighter than usual, even at the top where the the top four, not one of whom are a team from Manchester, are separated by just two points. That might be due to the lack of any actual home-field advantage, or the lack of any meaningful preseason, or the congested schedule, or the growing number of injuries, or any of the other factors present in pandemic football.
And that makes Sunday’s derby an even bigger occasion. Going by their current form and the quality of their squads, it looks like both Chelsea and Tottenham will be in contention for the Premier League trophy until the very end of the season. But on Sunday, we can show who’s the best in London at the moment.
“We always try to be the top team in London and we want to be at the top because that means we are the No.1. That’s what we fight for. We are in good form and, hopefully, we can improve on last season and now reach higher levels.”
Unfortunately, the earliest we will have any fans back at Stamford Bridge is next weekend, so the players will have to generate their own buzz on Sunday and keep our excellent home record in the last three decades going against Spurs, having lost just 1 of our last 34 since 1990.
“It’s one of those kinds of games when you usually feel a special atmosphere at the Bridge and that game [in 2016], we were having a terrible season, we were losing 2-0 at half-time.
“But, in the second half, the electricity around the stadium... I think something clicked that day that even though we were not playing for anything, just to not let Tottenham win the league. It was not only the game, it was the title race as well that they were involved in.
“Every year is different and we had a very good record against them until two or three seasons ago when we lost, but, hopefully, we can keep beating them at the Bridge.”
-César Azpilicueta; source: Telegraph via Goal
So say we all.