Tough test faces Blues
10 Mar 2006 - 07:12:49
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- Tough test faces Blues
Chelsea will be desperate to bounce back from their Champions League exit to Barcelona in midweek when Martin Jol brings his resurgent Spurs side to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Despite Jose Mourinho's protestations, his side were beaten by the better team in the Camp Nou and, for all the club's financial muscle, the Blues were surprisingly short of ideas in both legs against Barca.
Spurs are not in the same league as the Catalan giants, but they will be tough opposition for the Blues, who have not been at their best for much of 2006.
Even though they are already virtually guaranteed a second successive Premiership title, they have won only five of their last 11 games in all competitions and looked decidedly jaded in games against the likes of Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and West Brom.
Discipline has also been a problem with Arjen Robben serving a four-match suspension following red cards at Sunderland and West Brom, while Mourinho blamed Asier del Horno's Stamford Bridge dismissal for his side's European exit.
Frank Lampard did not look fully fit on Tuesday after being rushed back from a hamstring strain but Mourinho has no injury problems going in to Saturday's game.
Spurs' exhilarating 3-2 win against Blackburn on Sunday consolidated their fourth place and lifted them five points clear of closest rivals Arsenal in the race for the final Champions League spot.
Robbie Keane's virtuoso performance against Mark Hughes' side helped to end a stuttering run for Jol's team that had seen them take only six points from their previous six games.
But with Andy Reid the only player currently in the treatment room and Jol having slimmed his squad down by letting Pedro Mendes, Noe Pamarot, Sean Davis, Wayne Routledge and Michael Brown leave the club in the January transfer window, Spurs look well-placed to make a strong finish to the season.
Chelsea won 2-0 at White Hart Lane earlier in the campaign after Mido had been sent off for Spurs in the 25th minute, while last term at Stamford Bridge the match ended goalless, when the visitors "parked a bus" in front of the Chelsea goal, according to Mourinho.