Opposition watch | Chelsea's home form and players to watch

Believe it or not, we're just three months shy of it being two years since our last visit to Stamford Bridge - a 2-2 draw back in August, 2022. We're back in SW6 on Thursday evening, with plenty to play for - here's a closer look at Chelsea...

Form

Chelsea are ninth in the Premier League but that position is somewhat misleading in terms of league form, where they've lost just three of their last 15 and one of their last 10. Home form has also picked up - they've won seven of their last nine at Stamford Bridge. However, the overall form includes a lot of draws, some positive (City away, Villa away) some less so (Burnley at home, Sheffield United away). To sum up, you're not exactly sure what you're going to get - for example, beating Everton 6-0 and losing 5-0 at Arsenal next time out - but, as every Spurs fan knows, the Blues will be up for this one...

Players to watch

Cole Palmer has played a starring role for Chelsea this season - 20 goals and nine assists in the Premier League, his goal tally is just one behind PL top scorer Erling Haaland. Quick feet, cleverness in tight areas around the box and clearly an eye for goal - in his last two home league matches he's scored a hat-trick against Manchester United (his last two goals timed at 90+10 and 90+11) and four against Everton. Skipper and box-to-box midfielder Conor Gallagher was also on target against United and fired home Chelsea's equaliser at Villa last Saturday. Noni Madueke also scored at Villa Park and links well with Palmer and Nicolas Jackson up top. Thiago Silva - now 39 - was back in defence at Villa after missing the 5-0 loss at the Emirates, but suffered an injury late on, and he's out. Chelsea's injury list is deep, and includes the likes of Reece James, Christopher Nkunku, Levi Colwill, Raheem Sterling, Carney Chukwuemeka, Enzo Fernandez and Ben Chilwell - and now Silva and Axel Disasi.

Manager - Mauricio Pochettino

Needs no introduction, Mauricio moved from Newell's Old Boys in Argentina to Espanyol in Spain in 1994, spending the next seven years in La Liga, before a switch to France and spells at PSG and Bordeaux. He then returned to end his playing career at Espanyol and then took over at the Barcelona-based club in 2006. Mauricio moved to the Premier League and Southampton in 2013 before joining us in 2014, overseeing our best seasons in the Premier League in 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 and a return to Champions League football, the pinnacle reaching the Champions League Final in 2019 after dramatic knockout success over Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Ajax. Returned to PSG in 2021, winning Ligue 1 in 2021/22 and appointed by Chelsea in May.

Last time we met

A crossroads moment for the season back in November also had a sliding doors moment. Unbeaten in 10 going into the game, we started brilliantly, took the lead through Deki Kulusevski and looked set to sweep Chelsea away. However, a superb second goal from Heung-Min Son was wiped out for a marginal offside by VAR and from potentially leading 2-0, everything changed. We lost Cuti Romero to a red card - Cole Palmer scoring from the penalty spot for 1-1 - James Maddison and Micky van de Ven to injury and then another red card for Destiny Udogie left us with nine men for the last 35 minutes. We held on at 1-1 until the 75th minute and had two chances to level at 2-2 before Nicolas Jackson struck twice in injury time for the final 4-1 scoreline.

How to follow

Thursday evening's clash will be televised live by Sky Sports with live radio commentary on talkSPORT. You can listen to BBC Radio London's commentary via our Match Centre here on tottenhamhotspur.com and the Official Spurs app, where you’ll also find minute-by-minute text, goal alerts, stats and much more. Look out for our social media updates on X and Instagram. Video highlights will be available on SPURSPLAY from 5pm, with the full 90 minutes available to watch on demand from midnight. Also, look out for our Review Show with post-match reaction and analysis from presenter Ben Haines and guests on SPURSPLAY and YouTube. Worldwide broadcast listings are available via the link on this page...