PREVIEW: TOTTENHAM VS CHELSEA

This Thursday night, Chelsea travel to White Hart lane to take on London rivals Tottenham. However, for the first time in a long time, Tottenham go in to the match above Chelsea as they are currently in third place, while Chelsea are two points behind in fourth.

Since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003, Chelsea have become one of the premier league’s best teams and therefore they’ve  got used to being in matches against teams who like them, are battling to be considered one of the best. However, it’s only been two seasons since Tottenham first finished in the premier league’s coveted top four so competing in these types of matches is relatively new to them.

Chelsea’s triumph over leaders Manchester City last week, twinned with Tottenham’s loss at Stoke looked to have put Chelsea back into the title race and damaged Tottenham’s chances of being in the top four come May. However, Chelsea lost all the momentum they had after their win over Manchester City, as a late Jordi Gomez goal rescued Wigan a point in a 1-1 draw on Saturday. A day later, a Roman Pavlyuchenko goal was enough to give Tottenham the three points at home to Sunderland.

A thought that deeply worries Chelsea fans is that defeat on Thursday night will leave them five points behind Tottenham, with the north London side having a game in hand. Such a situation could put manager Andre Villas-Boas under serious pressure from both the media and potentially even his own supporters, as many Chelsea fans blame the decision to take off Daniel Sturridge for Florent Malouda as a key factor in the blues dropping two points at Wigan on Saturday.

An interesting feature of this game will be Luka Modric. The 26 year-old Croat was at the centre of one of the summer’s most intriguing transfer sagas, as Chelsea offered Tottenham £22 million, and then £27 million for the midfielder’s services. In the end, Modric stayed at Tottenham and has looked just as good as ever so far this season. Thursday’s game will give Modric the opportunity to show Chelsea what they missed out on.

For Tottenham, there will be no Aaron Lennon in this match after he was injured during the game against Sunderland. Gareth Bale, who didn’t play against Sunderland due to a sprained ankle, is facing a battle to be fit for Thursday night’s game. Manager Harry Redknapp said "Bale has sprained his ankle, he just did it in training. He thought it was okay, then he went home, had a little rest and couldn't put any weight on it”.  Jermaine Defoe however, looks set to return after missing Sunday’s game.

As for Chelsea, John Terry, who had to receive medical treatment during the game against Wigan, is expected to be fit for the match.

Brazilians Ramires and David Luiz who both missed the game against Wigan should both be fit according to manager Andre Villas-Boas.

This game will be massively important for both teams, with a win for either side putting them in third place over Christmas. Although, a loss for either team would surely end their title hopes. For the neutral, this will be a great battle between two London rivals, however for the fans this will be a nerve-wracking match with the result having a huge impact on their respective team’s season.

Alex and Anelka to leave Chelsea

After Chelsea’s 3-0 win away at Newcastle manager Andre Villas-Boas told the media that both central defender Alex and centre forward Nicolas Anelka had handed in transfer requests. The 34 year old manager also said that the duo would be training separately from the rest of the squad until any move was completed.

Villas-Boas said “My conversation with them was fair and direct. They have shown their interest in leaving the club and have had transfer requests in for some time. They are top players. Their professionalism and integrity are not in question. 'But we have decided to assign different training times to them. If their transfers don't happen, the players will return to full training.'

 As a Chelsea fan, I wasn’t surprised by this news but I was slightly concerned. Nicolas Anelka hasn’t done anything particularly impressive since the end of the 2009/10 season, so there’s no need to replace him. However, Alex is a reliable, wise and powerful centre-half who I feel contributes a lot to the Chelsea squad.

David Luiz is often criticized for being too rash and often finding himself out of position, while Alex has no such issues. Now I’m not saying Alex is better than David Luiz, I’m just pointing out that there are parts of Alex’s game which his fellow Brazilian can learn from.

However, despite my disappointment at Alex leaving the club, I can understand why he’d want to leave. Since David Luiz joined in January this year, Alex has been demoted to 4^th choice centre-back behind John Terry, David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic. For a player attempting to get into Brazil’s 2014 world cup squad, that’s simply not good enough.

As for who Alex will join, there’s a lot of potential options such as Juventus, newly rich clubs Anzhi Makhachkala and PSG or perhaps even a return to Brazil. A move to Arsenal would’ve been considered possible in the summer, but Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker and Thomas Vermaelen have made the gunners’ defence considerably more solid than it was this time last year.

Nicolas Anelka, at 32 is three years older than the 29 year old Alex and has very little to prove. Throughout his career he’s played for the likes of Real Madrid, Arsenal and Liverpool as well as Chelsea. A move to an American side, perhaps L.A galaxy or a move back to France with old club PSG have both been spoke about as possible destinations as has a move to Russia.

To conclude, Chelsea have to sign a replacement in my opinion, with many mentioning Gary Cahill. However, Cahill’s shaky performances for Bolton this season makes me think a £15 million signing of him would be a bad move. I’d personally like to see Mats Hummels join, although Borussia Dortmund wouldn’t let him go cheaply, the same could be said for Hummels’ defensive partner Neven Subotic.