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CHELSEA FC: FA CUP PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA V TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

/noticias.info/ Fri, 9th Mar 2007

So many memories, so much to play for. Club historian Rick Glanvill looks forward to this most evocative of our London derbies as statistician Paul Dutton prepares the FA Cup facts and figures.

Rick Glanvill believes the omens for Sunday are mixed.

It's funny how the familiar stereotypes of the leading London clubs have gone topsy-turvy in recent years.

Spurs used to be the team that put the playing of great football above winning occasional silverware, perhaps epitomized by the late-Seventies team of Hoddle, Ardiles and Villa; that is now the nature of Arsenal.

The Gunners were once the side that relentlessly ground out results to win pots, at all cost - even that of the beautiful game. Yes, we all remember the 1987-94 team of George Graham. But it is now José Mourinho who says 'Football is about winning' and his Chelsea who are bagging the trophies, not the born-again purists of north London.

And so to the old Chelsea, fabled as the club that could always raise its game to dump a Manchester United or Liverpool on their behinds, then slip up against a Bristol City or an Orient.

Well, with cup exits to Grimsby Town and Leicester City fresh in the mind, alongside that historic win at home to José Mourinho's team, the old Blues mantle of inconsistency now hangs forlornly round the cockerel's neck.

Spurs fans were dismayed by their side's 1-3 capitulation to the reserves of arch-rivals Arsenal in the League Cup semi-final second leg, having hastened to a 2-0 lead at the Lane and been pegged back to 2-2. And yet their intermittent fighting spirit overflowed in the spellbinding goings-on at the Boleyn Ground, won 4-3 at the death by Spurs' pace and finishing.

In contrast Chelsea saw the strengths of Arsène Wenger's squad in the League Cup final, but overcame them with efficiency in a second half powerplay.

With those games in mind, you can't imagine a 4-3 at the Bridge this weekend, especially a seesaw one like that of February 1994, when Blues striker Mark Stein settled matters with a remarkably powerful penalty just after the visitors' Andy Gray had missed from the spot.

However, there is a recent history of high scores in our meetings. The previous time Spurs beat Chelsea it was 1-5 in the League Cup in January 2002.

Two months later Chelsea returned to N17 in the FA Cup quarter-final and trounced the hosts 4-0 - this was the original 'Normal service has resumed' match, and the last time we met in this competition. Three days after that, we repeated the scoreline at home in the League.

Martin Jol wil be anxious to avoid similar retribution on Sunday. Just like the Blues, his team are still chasing trophies at home and abroad.

Alongside the likes of Seville (Spain's league leaders), Werder Bremen (second in the Bundesliga), and Benfica (just behind Porto in the Primeira) they are competing in the Last 16 of the UEFA Cup.

With Robbie Keane continuing his spate of astute volleys and the elusive Dimitar Berbatov once again proving his £10m worth, Spurs won 3-2 in the first leg in north-west Portugal against Braga late on Thursday.

Reaching later stages means congestion though. Chelsea will have had an extra two days to rest and prepare ahead of Sunday lunchtime, and Spurs play host to the 'Arsenalistas' the following Wednesday, just three days after our meeting.

However, anyone who remembers the FA Cup semi-final of March 1965 knows that opponents' Euro-fatigue is overrated if you don't prepare properly yourself. Back then Liverpool had overcome Cologne in Rotterdam in a draining match that went to extra time three days prior to our meeting.

Tommy Docherty's fresh youngsters, soon to be League Cup winners and chasing the title too, were favourites to progress. But they started casually and never recovered, losing 0-2. The League challenge faltered too.

Jol will have to apply his best motivational skills in this vital period. He has suggested that Europe remains their most likely route to success.

Spurs fans will tell you that going forward, especially with Berbatov's guile, Aaron Lennon's electric wing play, and the finishing of Robbie Keane, their team can do anyone damage.

However, without the injured Ledley King, their defence - even before the five they shipped at Upton Park and the Estadio Minicipal - has looked shaky when rocked, and they haven't resolved the defensive midfield conundrum since Michael Carrick left.

UEFA cup-tied Ricardo Rocha may return ahead of the accident-prone Anthony Gardner despite his nosedive cameo against Arsenal.

Jermaine Jenas missed Braga with a groin injury as did Benoit Assou-Ekotto (knee) and Mido (cyst on knee). Keane has served his one-match ban for handling the ball on the line against Bolton.

Spurs overturned years of frustration to finally beat Chelsea 1-2 in the League as the Guy Fawkes bonfires were sparking up last year.

It was a victory founded partly on unusual refereeing (especially the singling out of skipper John Terry for a second yellow, and the leniency toward Hossam Ghaly despite his elbowing of Michael Essien) but mostly on Spurs' superior spark and ambition once Michael Dawson had equalised Claude Makelele's stunning strike-from-nowhere.

It was substitute full-back Khalid Boulahrouz's susceptibility to the same old trick (twice) from Keane, that led, via a Makelele miscue and Lennon magic, to the winner.

Lassana Diarra appears to have solved that right-back problem that Jol's men exploited in that game, but Lennon will no doubt play on the left to test him.

The central defensive partnership of Terry and Riccy Carvalho has not lost a game in any competition since defeat at the Lane. Here's hoping the inspirational Chelsea and England skipper has recovered fully to take his place at the heart of the team again.

Essien's return to midfield would be timely: Mikel, so impressive again after coming on as a sub for Claude Makelele on Tuesday night, sits out the second of four matches for his part in the Millennium Stadium fracas.

Will normal service resume on Sunday after November's League setback? The omens are mixed.

It's 17 years since Tottenham last beat Chelsea at the Bridge, but most older Blues fans never forgave the Lilywhites for beating us in the all-Cockney final of 1967 anyway - forty years ago this May.

Twenty-five years ago our two sides also met for a quarter-final in this competition that lives in the memory. First Division Spurs arrived half an hour before kick-off and had to borrow white shorts from Second Division Chelsea on arrival.

Mickey Fillery's swirling free-kick opened the scoring, but Glenn Hoddle inspired Spurs to a 3-1 lead before Alan Mayes' goal set up a raucous finish. Cup holders Spurs retained their trophy that year.

The last time we met them at this stage, in 2002, we went on to meet Arsenal in the final. The Gunners are out, of course, and Spurs perhaps have their eyes more on Europe.

No slip-ups, and it could be a wonderful springtime.


CHELSEA V TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: From Cup Final records to Mike Riley as ref - Paul Dutton with all the details you need to know ahead of the big game.

Chelsea are looking to extend our unbeaten run against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge to 19 games in 17 years. We have won 12 and drawn six scoring 35 goals and conceding 13. Spurs last win here was in February 1990 in the old First Division when they won 2-1 with goals from David Howells and Gary Lineker. John Bumstead replied for Chelsea.

Tottenham are looking for a fifth successive away win in all competitions. In 23 away games they have won nine, lost eight and drawn six.

This game will be the eighth occasion Chelsea and Tottenham have been drawn together in the FA Cup.

Tottenham won the first two. In 1909-10 in the second round at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea old boy Percy Humphreys scored the only goal.

Forty-seven years later in 1956-57 goals in an 18-minute spell in the second half from Terry Medwin, Tommy Harmer (who went on to play for Chelsea), Alfie Stokes and another Chelsea old boy Bobby Smith inflicted a 4-0 fourth round defeat at White Hart Lane.

In the third round in January 1964 Bert Murray equalised Terry Dyson's opener at White Hart Lane. Jimmy Greaves was Tottenham's captain. The replay at the Bridge four days later in front of a massive 70,000 crowd saw Bobby Tambling and Bert Murray sandwiched between a missed penalty by Terry Venables secured our passage through to the next round.

We were drawn together again the following season in the fifth round and played four days after a confidence boosting 1-0 friendly away win against Franz Beckenbauer and West Germany. Barry Bridges scored the only goal as he did in our cup tie against Spurs at Stamford Bridge.

Tottenham gained their revenge in the FA Cup final at Wembley in May 1967 beating us 2-1 with goals from Jimmy Robertson and Frank Saul. Bobby Tambling replied for the Blues with four minutes to go.

Since then we have met twice more. In 1981-82, Spurs the FA Cup holders came to Stamford Bridge in the quarter-final. Chelsea were mid table in the old Second Division having disposed of the European Cup holders Liverpool 2-0 at home in the previous round. The scoring went like this: 1-0 (Fillery), 1-1 (Archibald), 1-2 (Hoddle), 1-3 (Hazard), 2-3 (Mayes).

Our last meeting was at White Hart Lane in the quarter-final in March 2002. We won emphatically 4-0 with goals from Gallas (11), Gudjohnsen (48), Le Saux (53) and Gudjohnsen again (65). Le Saux was sent off for a kick-tackle on Taricco. The teams that day were:

Tottenham Sullivan; King, Richards (Rebrov 61), Gardner; Davies, Anderton (Taricco 74), Sherwood, Ziege; Poyet; Sheringham (c), Ferdinand.
Chelsea Cudicini; Melchiot, Gallas, Desailly (c), Babayaro; Grønkjær (Dalla Bona 79), Lampard, Petit, Le Saux; Hasselbaink (Forssell 88), Gudjohnsen (Jokanovic 83).
We lost in the final at the Millennium Stadium against Arsenal.

Tottenham's FA Cup run
3rd round Cardiff (A) D 0-0
Replay Cardiff (h) W 4-0
4th round Southend (h) W 3-1
5th round Fulham (a) W 4-0

Last five seasons in the FA Cup
Chelsea
2001/02 Final - Arsenal (Millennium Stadium) L 0-2
2002/03 Quarter-final replay - Arsenal (h) L 1-3
2003/04 Fifth round - Arsenal (a) L 1-2
2004/05 Fifth round - Newcastle (a) L 0-1
2005/06 Semi-final - Liverpool (Old Trafford) L 1-2
Tottenham
2001/02 Quarter-final - Chelsea (h) L 0-4
2002/03 Third round - Southampton (a) L 0-4
2003/04 Fourth round replay - Man City (h) L 3-4
2004/05 Quarter-final - Newcastle (a) L 0-1
2005/06 Third round - Leicester (a) L 2-3

Spurs have played 45 games in all competitions this season. They have won 25, lost 12 and drawn eight scoring 74 goals, conceding 54, have kept 13 clean sheets (but only one in the last 10) and have failed to score on 10 occasions.

Michael Dawson has missed one of Tottenham's games this season.
It was due to suspension after reaching five yellow cards.

Tottenham's last six games
Feb 10 Sheffield Utd (a) L 1-2
Feb 18 Fulham (FAC a) W 4-0
Feb 21 Everton (a) W 2-1
Feb 25 Bolton (h) W 4-1
Mar 4 West Ham (a) W 4-3
Mar 8 Braga (UEFA a) W 3-2

Their team for last weekend's thriller at Upton Park was: Robinson; Chimbonda (Taarabt 87), Dawson, Gardner, Young-Pyo Lee; Ghaly (Huddlestone h-t), Jenas (Stalteri 57), Tainio, Lennon; Defoe, Berbatov. Robbie Keane was suspended. Their scorers were Defoe (pen), Tainio, Berbatov and Stalteri.

Martin Jol made three changes for Thursday's visit to Portugal to play Braga. The team was: Robinson; Chimbonda, Dawson, Gardner, Young-Pyo Lee; Malbranque, Zokora, Tainio (Huddlestone 74), Lennon; Berbatov, Keane. Keane (2) and Malbranque scored the goals.

Spurs' scorers in all competitions are: Berbatov 16, Defoe 15 (3 pens), Keane 13 (1 pen), Jenas 6, Mido 5, Lennon 4, Huddlestone 3, Malbranque 4, Murphy 2, Tainio 2, own goals 2, Chimbonda 1, Davenport 1, Dawson 1, Ghaly 1, Stalteri 1.

Didier Drogba is the Premiership top scorer in all competitions with 29. Kerry Dixon was the last Chelsea player to achieve 30 goals in a season when he scored 36 in 1984-85.

Chelsea have won the last eight home games since the turn of the year scoring 29 goals and conceding two.

Chelsea have not been beaten at Stamford Bridge for over a year and 30 games in all competitions and only once in the last 89 games (Barcelona, Feb 2006).

Chelsea have played 46 games in all competitions. We have won 32, drawn nine and lost five. We have scored 91 goals, conceded 30 and have kept 25 clean sheets. We have failed to score against Werder Bremen in Germany and away to Aston Villa and Liverpool.

Chelsea have lost one of our last 25 games (at Liverpool) in all competitions and are looking to add to a run of nine wins (seven with a clean sheet) and a draw since the defeat on Merseyside.

Didier Drogba, if selected, will start his 100th Chelsea game on his 29th birthday on Sunday. Lassana Diarra will celebrate his 22nd the day before. Paulo Ferreira's next appearance will be his 100th for the club since his arrival in 2004.

John Mikel Obi is suspended. It is his second of a four game domestic ban.

When a player reaches five bookings, he now only receives a warning. Ten yellows will receive a two-match ban. Chelsea have Ballack, Carvalho, A Cole, Drogba and Makelele on six.

Mike Riley is refereeing us for the first time since Reading in October. He also took charge of our game against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. He has been the official in two of Tottenham's matches, against Man Utd in September and the FA Cup replay against Cardiff.

Chelsea have won the FA Cup three times in 1970, 1997 and 2002 and have been runners-up in 1915, 1967, 1994 and 2002.

Tottenham have won the FA Cup on eight occasions, the last being in 1991. They have been runners-up just the once.

If a replay is required it will be Monday, 19 March at White Hart Lane.

The semi-final draw will be made on Monday at 1.30pm and is live on Sky, BBC and Radio Five Live.

Chelsea's overall record against Tottenham in all competitions is: played 131, won 55, drawn 30, lost 46.

Chelsea's cup record against Tottenham is: played 14, won 6, drawn 3, lost 5. notas_de_prensa_archivo