Chelsea could be without both John Terry and Ramires to face Spurs on Sunday afternoon, according to Jose Mourinho.
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Pochettino’s resources have been stretched by their European adventure, not least with an 11-hour, 5,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan to beat Qarabag 1-0 and secure their place in the last 32.
Chelsea have been porous in defence this season and this lack of defensive steel could make a huge difference in this afternoon’s London derby with Tottenham Hotspur.
“The team is really good, they keep the players they want to keep and I think they bring the right players in”, said Mourinho. “Look, when I watch them play, it’s not a surprise for me”.
Spurs have proved to be very solid so far this season and have the longest unbeaten streak in the Premier League still alive, having not lost for 12 games since the opening day defeat to Manchester United.
And Kane revealed the Spurs players are fearless coming into the match and hopes the home crowd will spur the team onto a big win over the west London side.
“He is only 22, he is a very grounded lad and he knows that Tottenham is the best club for him at this point in his career”. This team is relatively young but the likes of Erikson, Lamela and Kane have shown that they are more than capable of playing with the big boys.
“We have a hard opponent, in this case Chelsea, who have two days more than us to prepare”.
Dier believes Tottenham’s impressive form can be attributed to hard work away from competition. A positive result against Tottenham is needed if they want to begin a push back up the table before the end of 2015.
In team news, the hosts are forced to do without Dele Alli through suspension after the midfielder picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against the Hammers.
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“We started to feel that the players believe, they are confident and comfortable in the way we play, the way we train, and I think that is the most important thing”. But Mourinho says his Blues have also had hard fixture pile-ups in Europe and insists there is no pressure or expectation on Tottenham, who have only won three trophies in 31 years. I knew if I didn’t score for a few games people were going to talk about that and compare to last season.
