There are only a handful of players who have experienced Chelsea dominating Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League and amongst them is former striker, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. The former striker spent quite a time in Stamford Bridge and is of the opinion that the balance of power has shifted before Sunday’s clash of the two giants at Stamford Bridge.
In just a year as a manager of Tottenham, Jose Mourinho has once again proved why he is the best coach in the world as he made Tottenham the League leaders after Spurs were struggling heavily the previous season. Harry Kane and Son is in their form of life after nine games and the duo has been racking goals left and right.
Their away match at Stamford Bridge has in particular very bad records as they have won only one PL game in 30 years there. The derby will reveal if Tottenham can sustain the pressure of remaining at the summit of the table.
“They are very close to each other at the moment. Spurs have got the strongest team, the strongest squad that they’ve had in the last 10 years, or the last few years,” he said as per Reuters reports.
Frank Lampard’s side is currently sitting in the third position and with a win, they can straight go to the top. Hasselbainkhas netted 10 goals after playing eight Premier League games against Spurs in the blue jersey and he believes that Mourinho’s team has a clear edge in beating Lampard and winning the title.
He also believes that Lampard is building the squad for the future, having got the job of a manager in just the previous season. On the other hand, he sees Tottenham as the finished product ready to challenge for the domestic title.
“As a squad if (Tottenham) are not winning, or close to winning, the league this year then I think they will have under-achieved,” Hasselbaink said.
“I think Chelsea doesn’t need to win it. Frank is not there yet. If they win it of course they will take it with two hands. But it’s only Frank’s second year, we all know what happened last year. He had to come in and let the youngsters play and he did magnificently. They have spent a lot of money but he is building for the future. In that aspect, Spurs are a little bit further than Chelsea.”
“On paper it’s the strongest, with (Harry) Kane, (Gareth) Bale who is not even firing on all cylinders yet, and Son (Heung-min), then you have Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn off the bench and Dele Alli who is not involved and Harry Winks on the bench,” he added.
Although Chelsea has increased their firepower in the attacking front by signing Ziyech, Werner and Havertz, Hasselbaink thinks that Spurs boasts of having the best-attacking line up in the Premier League currently.
“Their weakest area is the two center-halves.”
“It’s going to be very interesting, this match,” he said. “It will be close and there will not be lots of goals.
“Mourinho will go and close the shop. But there’s something good going on at Spurs.”
Despite having an abundance of world-class attacking players on both sides, he considers that the derby will be a low-scoring game as both the clubs will be cautious not to drop any points further.
