Voices on the game... Chelsea

It’s a big one at Stamford Bridge on Saturday! A win against Chelsea will see us leapfrog the Blues back into the top four – among our ‘Voices on the game’ as we look ahead to our latest London derby are freelance football reporter and presenter – and Chelsea fan – Alison Bender, respective bosses Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho, plus our captain Hugo Lloris.

Alison Bender

Freelance football reporter and presenter, formerly with Chelsea TV

“For me it’s the most exciting fixture, I always look out for it, but I have to say, as a Chelsea fan, I’m more worried than normal. I was at the game against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge (on Monday night) and Chelsea looked wasteful in attack. I suppose Spurs are kind of in a similar situation because they’re missing Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane. I don’t know what the situation is with Tammy Abraham, I watched Michy Batshuayi miss a few chances and I’m starting to think maybe Frank Lampard might opt for Olivier Giroud. If Chelsea’s strikers – whoever is up front – can be clinical, I think they’ve got a really good chance. Whoever takes the opportunity to be clinical with their finishing will come out on top. It’s going to be a tight game – I think the key area will be the final third on both sides.

“Also, Spurs have played in midweek but Chelsea haven’t played since Monday so I think that will have a massive effect. In situations like this, Jose Mourinho would normally be so on top of Chelsea and be able to plan tactically but there are so many question marks over every position – you don’t know if Kepa or Willy Caballero is going to start in goal, I’ve no idea which attack Lampard is going to go with so it’s one of those really strange games that feels a little bit up in the air. I’m a massive fan of Mourinho. What he did for Chelsea was just phenomenal so I’m always excited when he comes back to the Bridge. You know he’ll have done his homework so well. When he came in at Spurs, you were 12 points behind fourth spot so this means so much because you can go above Chelsea with a win. Particularly after losing to United… that’s the first time they’d ever done the Premier League double over Chelsea and that hurts from a Chelsea perspective, so they won’t want to then follow that with a game against Spurs where they’re overtaken in the league.”

By coincidence, Chelsea v Spurs was the first ever game Alison went to: “My dad is a massive Chelsea fan and he took me to watch this fixture in 1990,” she added. “Spurs won and it was actually a bit embarrassing for me because there were quite a few stars in the side at the time like Gazza and Gary Lineker – I was a little bit starstruck over Spurs and my dad was furious. I went and got a picture with Gary Lineker afterwards!”

Frank Lampard

Chelsea Head Coach

Speaking about his use of a three-at-the-back system in the reverse game at our new stadium, Lampard said: “You always try and prepare and let the players know how we want to approach games. There can be small tweaks, there can be bigger ones, like we did against Tottenham, but every game is different. It’s a different game to the one we took on when we went to Tottenham. At that time, they were playing in a slightly different way. That day it was pleasing. We had worked on a lot of it in the week. I didn’t invent three at the back, but the players implemented it. It’s one of the things you really enjoy about being a manager. The Premier League is the best in the world for it – there are styles of all sorts. You come up against Brighton, there’s a style. You come up against Burnley, there’s a style, and when you come up against Tottenham, there’s a certain style. It doesn’t mean we will go out and play the same way as we did at Tottenham and that will just work. It might look slightly different.”

Speaking about our attacking threats in the absence of Kane and Son, Lampard added: “Clearly an incredible player like Harry Kane is a miss and Son is a miss, but what always amazed me are the stats when Harry Kane was injured under (Mauricio) Pochettino. They remained a force because they had players who could fill in. I’m talking about players like Dele Alli and Lucas Moura, who have the qualities of breaking the lines from behind. (Steven) Bergwijn has come in and has similar qualities. This is a London derby against Tottenham. Whatever team they put out it will always be a threat.”

Jose Mourinho

Spurs Head Coach

“It’s a very important game, of course, but in normal circumstances I wouldn’t say it’s a crucial match, a must-win match or something like that because there are still lots of points to play for. The situation is not just us one point behind Chelsea, it’s also Sheffield United one point behind us, Wolves four points behind us, Arsenal six points behind us, United two points behind us. There are a lot of teams there trying to fight for fourth and fifth.

“(Chelsea) don’t have N’Golo Kante, but they have lots of players and they can play the way they want. For us, it’s a little different. So, what I expect from the players is what they always give me – the right attitude, the right ambition, going until the end like we did in the last match and that’s what I enjoy and why I like my players so much.”

Hugo Lloris

Spurs goalkeeper and captain

“Now it’s about finding the right energy and putting even more desire into our game and performance. They wait for us. They have to bounce back from the defeat against Manchester United. The top four is the main challenge in this game, we’ve reduced the gap and we don’t want it to increase any further, so we need to get something out of this game. I still think whatever happens, there will be other chances for us to get the Champions League spots. But when the opportunity is there, you don’t want to miss it.”