Chelsea v Tottenham: Premier League Friday preview

Chelsea play host to Tottenham in an EPL London derby in the early hours on Friday morning and it is the home side who are more in need of the three points on offer.

The Stamford Bridge outfit currently occupy fourth place on the ladder, but a whole host of clubs below them have realistic hopes of playing in the UEFA Champions League next season.

Spurs, meanwhile, are marooned down in 14th place and have only pride to play for in the domestic league, with a UEFA Europa League quarter-final tie against Eintracht Frankfurt their main priority.

Both sets of players should be well rested after having a weekend off due to these two teams having been eliminated from the FA Cup.

Chelsea v Tottenham betting preview

Inconsistency hurts Maresca's men

Chelsea, like Spurs, still have European ambitions, with a UEFA Conference League quarter-final clash against Legia Warsaw just around the corner, but they have to retain focus on their Premier League campaign.

Enzo Maresca's side went into the international break on the back of three defeats and two wins in their last five league games, although those two victories cam against lowly Leicester City and rock-bottom Southampton.

However, Maresca could potentially be handed a huge triple boost for the visit of the Lilywhites, with Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke having all returned to full training during the recent international break.

England international Palmer had been struggling for form before sitting out the 1-0 defeat at Arsenal, having gone 10 games without a goal in all competitions.

Senegal striker Jackson has been sidelined since early February due to a hamstring problem, having gone goalless in eight Premier League games before limping off against West Ham.

Despite their struggles in front of goal, the returns of Palmer and Jackson would undoubtedly be major boosts for the Blues, who could be further enhanced by Madueke overcoming his own hamstring injury to feature.

The Blues are unbeaten in their last eight home games against Spurs in all competitions and have scored twice in each of the last four in that sequence, with Chelsea 1.44 to score over 1.5 goals on Friday morning.

Spurs sunk without a trace in the league

Spurs and Manchester United have both suffered dismal seasons in the Premier League to date, lying 14th and 13th respectively on the ladder.

Hopes of European football remain through their UEFA Europa League quarter-final places, while Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou will want to see his players respond to a run of just one win in five in all competitions before the recent international break.

The Australian tactician has been plagued by injury problems throughout his squad for most of the campaign and he has several players facing races to be fir to feature at Stamford Bridge.

Kevin Danso (hamstring), Dejan Kulusevski (foot) and Richarlison (calf) are all hoping to face the Blues, while midfielder Lucas Bergvall is expected to recover from illness to play his part.

Apart from that quartet, only centre-back Radu Dragusin (knee) is a definite absentee, with Postecoglou certainly having more options to choose from than he did earlier on in the campaign.

Tottenham last won a league game at Chelsea back in April 2018, but they have earned draws on two of their last four visits and are priced at 11.00 to secure a 1-1 draw on Friday morning.

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Chelsea v Tottenham odds

Chelsea - 1.60
Draw - 4.50
Tottenham - 4.50

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.