Chelsea make the trip across the capital to take on Tottenham in tonight’s headline act in the Premier League.
There were contrasting fortunes for these two in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night with the Blues surviving a late scare to beat Wolves with Tottenham crashing out after a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United.
Despite the win, there was more frustration for Enzo Maresca with Liam Delap ruled out of today’s game as the result of his red card.
Delap was making his return from a hamstring injury in the second-half but two yellow cards in seven minutes saw him become the fifth Chelsea player to be sent off this season with Maresca labelling the striker’s dismissal as ‘stupid’ and ‘embarrassing’.
It means plans for Delap to return up front to move Joao Pedro to his preferred role off the striker are on ice for another week.
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Marc Guiu could continue up top after starting against Sunderland, rested midweek against Wolves.
Cole Palmer remains unavailable as he continues his recovery from his persistent groin injury while Benoit Badiashile is out until December.
But in more positive news, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are both fit and available after nursing recent knocks. The pair were rested midweek, coming off the bench late on at Molineux.
Tottenham have once again been hit hard by injuries this season with Archie Gray their latest casualty, expected to be ruled out for a month.
Joao Palininha was deployed at centre-half against Newcastle in order to give Micky van der Ven a rest with Guglielmo Vicario and Wilson Odobert also missing out due to injury issues.
Vicario is available on Saturday against Chelsea with Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie also back from injury in what serves as a huge boost for the hosts.
Yves Bissouma and Dejan Kulusevski remain sidelined along with long-term absentee James Maddison.
Dominic Solanke meanwhile is continuing his recovery from minor ankle surgery with Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin and Kota Takai completing Tottenham’s list of unavailable players.
Who do you think will win?
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Tottenham
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Chelsea
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It will be a draw
Tottenham XI to face Chelsea – Metro prediction
Thomas Frank has a big decision to make – while Romero and Udogie are available, no football since the last international break means there is a risk.
But in this fixture, the Spurs boss surely won’t leave his captain on the bench.
Chelsea XI to face Tottenham – Metro prediction
Delap’s suspension is a real spanner in the works but one positive for Maresca will be Alejandro Garnacho, Jamie Gittens and Estevao Willian all getting on the score sheet across the last two games.
Tottenham vs Chelsea TV channel and kick-off time
Tottenham vs Chelsea takes place on Saturday 1 November with kick-off scheduled for 5:30pm.
You can watch the match live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event with streaming also available through the Sky Go app and NOW TV for subscribers.
