Chelsea will be looking to maintain their unbeaten start to life under head coach Thomas Tuchel when they face Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Blues, who are unbeaten in their last four Premier League encounters with Spurs, sealed their first victory of the Tuchel era on Sunday, defeating Burnley 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso got themselves on the scoresheet either side of the half time interval to secure Tuchel his first win in charge, just four days on from the German’s first game in charge against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which ended goalless.
With the former Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain chief having taken four points from his first two games in charge, he will be looking to increase that tally to seven and record another three-point haul in his first away game at the helm.
With respect to both Wolves and Burnley, the trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will represent Tuchel with his biggest challenge yet, despite Jose Mourinho’s side having lost their last two games.
Although Chelsea will fancy their chances of taking full advantage of Spurs’ recent troubles, Tuchel will know just how big a test his players will be in for. With that in mind, the German was working his players through their paces at the club’s Cobham training ground on Wednesday morning.
But what did we learn from the session? Here, football.london has picked out four things we spotted ahead of Thursday evening’s London derby.
Kante targets starting berth
After making the substitutes bench against Burnley, following a spell on the sidelines through injury, defensive-midfielder N’Golo Kante will be hoping to return to the starting line-up against Spurs.
Although the Frenchman was named on the bench against the Clarets, the France international was not called upon by Tuchel, meaning he has not played since Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, January 3.
However, with a few more days having passed by since the win over Burnley, Kante has had more time to build up his fitness levels and sharpness ahead of targeting a return against Spurs.
Although both Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic have done a solid job anchoring the defence in Tuchel’s first two games in charge, Kante will be chomping at the bit to get back in the team against Spurs.
On Wednesday, the midfielder was spotted working hard on the training ground, as well as donning a big smile on his face, suggesting he is feeling good about himself and itching to get back on the field.
No mini footballs
Last week, it soon became apparent that Tuchel, following his arrival at the club’s training ground last Tuesday evening, was eager to implement his own philosophy and get the players to buy into his methods from the off.
One of the most notable differences that Tuchel had introduced that was different to what Chelsea’s players were used to under Tuchel’s predecessor – Frank Lampard – was the arrival of mini footballs, which appeared to be either size one or two.
On Wednesday, however, there was no sign of them, with standard size Premier League footballs taking centre stage.
Whether the usage of the mini footballs last week was a key method into combating a strength of Burnley’s or not remains to be seen, but there was no sign of them at all this time around.
Ziyech sends Werner sliding
After failing to even make the bench against Burnley at the weekend, Moroccan winger Hakim Ziyech, who joined Chelsea last summer from Ajax, will be desperate to get back into the match-day squad for the trip to Spurs.
Ziyech started Tuchel’s first game in charge against Wolves but found himself out of the picture on Sunday, despite Premier League clubs being allowed to name nine substitutes on their benches.
But in an effort to ensure he returns to the match-day squad, at the very least, for the trip to face Mourinho’s Spurs, the former Ajax ace was spotted doing all he could in training.
The creative midfielder, who has registered three assists in the Premier League so far this term, was pictured chopping inside onto his stronger left-foot and sending Timo Werner sliding away on his backside.
It was clear that Ziyech was doing all he could to try and impress Tuchel and force his way back into his plans.
Youngsters feature
Although none of Chelsea’s highly-rated young guns have featured in Tuchel’s first two games in charge, the German has welcomed them into the first-team training set-up with open arms.
On Wednesday, Billy Gilmour, who looked destined to leave the club on loan on transfer deadline day before a U-turn was performed by the club, and Tino Anjorin were both spotted taking part alongside the club’s senior stars.
Both players, particularly Gilmour, are being tipped to enjoy lucrative careers at Stamford Bridge in years to come, meaning they will be both looking to impress Tuchel at every opportunity they get in the hope of forcing their way into his plans.
Admittedly, the German does have a big squad to work with, but there are sprinklings of exciting, young talent within this squad that the former Borussia Dortmund boss way wish to turn to as the fixtures continue to come thick and fast.
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