London Derby: Testing the mettle of the Premier League champions

(Baonghean.vn) - CoachConte and his students landed at Wembley, home ground.Tottenham play the London derby with a shortage of midfield players.For two consecutive seasons, the reigning English champions have had a poor start to the season and finished outside the European Cup group. This is the time to test the champion's mettle.Premier League?

Mauricio Pochettino unbeaten

Under coach Mauricio Pochettino, there are 13 London derbies unbeaten, winning 9 and drawing 4. Tottenham's squad is quite even now, they no longer depend on an outstanding superstar like Gareth Bale.

Looking at Ben Davies and Danny Rose sharing the left-back position, one can see the depth and quality in the squad of the White Hart Lane team. In addition to the young, talented and explosive Harry Kane and Dele Alli, Spurs also have central midfielders Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela playing exceptionally. In defense, with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, defenders Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose; no one can doubt the strength of the Roosters.

But before the match against Newcastle, many Tottenham players and fans were still worried when they saw the Premier League giants spending big to bring in "blockbuster" contracts. In contrast, Spurs said goodbye to 4 players: Kyle Walker (Man City), Nabil Bentaleb (Schalke), Clinton N'Jie (Marseille) and Federico Fazio (Roma) without buying any players.

Defender Davinson Sanchez - the most expensive contract in Tottenham history. Photo: Internet

Right after the opening match, it seemed that chairman Daniel Levy was obsessed with the philosophy of "If you don't change, you will fall behind", any team that spends a lot of money will get good results. The most typical are MU and Man City - the teams that won convincingly in the first round. Therefore, after the 25 million pound offer was quickly rejected, Tottenham sent a second offer to recruit striker Anthony Martial from Man Utd. Spurs will increase the asking price to buy the 21-year-old player to 42 million pounds.

SkySport also revealed that Tottenham's £40m offer for defender Davinson Sanchez has been accepted by Ajax Amsterdam. Accordingly, in the next few days, the Colombian centre-back will travel to London to undergo a medical and sign a contract. Davinson Sanchez will become the most expensive contract in Tottenham's history. This record previously belonged to Moussa Sissoko, who arrived at White Hart Lane last summer for a fee of £31m.

Is the champion confident?

The opening defeat to Burnley not only took away the confidence of defending champions Chelsea, Conte also lost two pillars Cahill and Fabregas due to red cards. Before that, Matic and Zouma left Stamford Bridge, key striker Costa publicly criticized Conte and refused to play, new player Bakayoko is currently being treated for an injury.

The tense atmosphere at Stamford Bridge was only eased when news broke that Eden Hazard had returned to training with his teammates and could play against Tottenham. Along with the fact that new signing Alvaro Morata, after coming off the bench against Burnley, scored a goal and integrated quite well.

Pedro, who missed the defeat to Burnley through a one-match suspension following his red card in the Super Cup tie with Arsenal, has also recovered from an ankle injury and is available.

Coach Antonio Conte is having a headache with the shortage of troops. Photo: Internet

Unfortunately for Conte, the Blues' opponents are the current runners-up - Tottenham, who are in good form. Last year, at home at White Hart Lane, it was Spurs who ended Chelsea's 13-match winning streak in the Premier League since a 0-3 loss to another London team, Arsenal, in late September 2016.

In the previous round, Dele Alli scored, contributing greatly to Tottenham's victory over Newcastle last weekend. Although Harry Kane has not scored in his first match, with his current form, he promises to be a constant danger in front of Courtois' goal. Once captain Cahill is absent, who will stop Harry Kane and Dele Alli, a question that makes it difficult for London fans to answer. More than anyone, they understand that in the past two consecutive seasons, the defending champions have had a bad start to the season and finished outside the European Cup group.

Will Dele Alli overshadow The Blues' new signing Alvaro Morata? Photo: Internet

It is likely that Conte, despite his lack of players, will stick to the 3-4-3 formation. It is likely that to control Dele Alli, the home team's very mobile midfielder, Conte will push centre-back David Luiz into the central midfield position, just like Rafael Benitez did when he was in charge of The Blues.

Last year, Alli scored a brace with his header in the fiery clash with Chelsea in the last round, thereby stopping The Blues' 13-match winning streak. Meanwhile, even without having time to add more players, Pochettino still worships the pressing style of play and the ability to control the ball of the players, because simply according to him, that is the key to victory./.

An Thanh