Saturday night’s firey London showdown

Tottenham Hotspur are flying high in the Barclays Premier League but come Saturday they face arguably their toughest challenge to date. White Hart Lane plays host to fourth-placed Chelsea and a certain cheeky character in the dugout with a point to prove on his comeback to a home where he feels loved.

Love in the shade of blue is certainly not in the air for The Football Sack's Stan Uzunov – a Spurs supporter of the most exhausted kind. Ever since his allegiances were set on the employer of past icon Dimi Berbatov, Stan has not seen Spurs win anything. And no, the League Cup is not counted as something. But there is a sense of belief in the lead-up to recent big clashes – one that has replaced the feeling of hope among joy-deprived Tottenham fans.

Stan Uzunov, a Spurs fan that only owns a Chelsea jersey. Should he burn it?

Spurs have started beating top sides – Man United, City and Arsenal all suffered Tottenham-inflicted hiccups on their way to the top-four last season. Andre Villas-Boas’ team weren’t able to down Chelsea, but it seems now might be the perfect time. Mourinho’s squad is taking its time to gel and the regular omission of Juan Mata – voted the club’s best player over the last two seasons – is not sitting well with supporters. After losing two games on the trot, the Blues got back on track against Fulham last week. Jose might be tempted to apply his famous catenaccio tactics - on show at Man United last month - in search of consistency.

In fact, the sides hold the two best defensive records in the league alongside Southampton (yes, this was triple-checked). But although Hugo Lloris and Petr Cech are having a field day between the sticks, it hasn’t exactly been goal-line fever at the other end. With a measly eleven goals shared between them after five games, one could be mistaken Fernando Torres and Emmanuel Adebayor have been starting every match. But they haven’t.

Spurs have brought in a barrage of attacking options in Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen in attempt to replace Cristiano Ronaldo’s new best buddy - Gareth Bale. Yet four of their five matches have ended 1-0. Jose Mourinho’s new fantasy team includes Samuel Eto’o and Andre Schurrle, who are both being outscored by Romelu Lukaku – loaned out to Everton on deadline day.

Big daddy Mark Schwarzer on the other hand will be quietly hoping Cech sees red – by way of card or injury – as he has had little game time and has been omitted from the national side for the upcoming friendlies against France and Canada. Schwarzer seems unlikely to start in the league if Cech is available and is looking increasingly nervous on the sidelines as he awaits the performance of his Green and Gold replacements. There are even unsourced rumours emerging from the Socceroos camp that David Carney has found a second coming in between the sticks. Come on Jose, think maturity over quality – throw Mark on against Spurs and you’ll do both parties a favour.

Although a single goal might look likely to be all that separates the sides at full-time, these two delivered ten goals over two fixtures last season and will not be as fresh coming into the match as in recent weeks. Andre-Vilas Boas has been fuming at a schedule that sees his side play three matches over six days – something Mourinho must also deal with, albeit over seven days.


It’s shaping up as an unpredictable clash of which the winner will climb to the top of the league – at least for two hours. With so much at stake for two rock-solid defensive lines, how the goals will go in remains a big question mark.

Our mate Andy over at Luxbet fancies the 2-2 draw at $12 with the first goal from Defoe. But whatever the outcome, one thing is for certain - Stan’s Bali-made Chelsea jersey will not survive the night.