NFL Tickets
When Tottenham Hotspur tale to the field on Sunday to play Chelsea, they will be missing one of their key players, Dele Alli. The 19-year-old has exploded onto the Premier League scene this season and quickly asserted himself with both the Spurs and the England national team. Alli is suspended for the game against Chelsea, however, and the loss will prove significant for the Spurs’ chances in the game.
This season, Chelsea and the Spurs have been trending in completely opposite directions. The game on Sunday, going off form, should be a certain home win for the Spurs. But Chelsea can grind out a result on their day and the team have shown some signs of positive play in the last two games.
Can Chelsea step up another level in this game and continue to build some positive momentum? Possibly. It’ll certainly be easier without Alli on the field. The midfielder has just two goals to his name this season, but it should really be more. Alli has been a constant threat to opposition teams with his bursts forward from midfield and has become more decisive in the final third as the games go by.
Chelsea will obviously look to sit deep and shut down the Spurs’ attack, while looking to hit the home team on the counter attack. The one thing that really tests a team trying to do that is movement and opposition players interchanging positions. Alli would have been a handful in this regard because his runs from midfield can be difficult to pick up. Plus he provides an extra body to defend that the defense is not always accounting for.
There’s a surprise factor with Alli and the way he pops up in the penalty box, or suddenly drives forward to aid an attack. That surprise factor won’t be there for Mauricio Pochettino on Sunday, though, and his team will have a harder time against the champions than some are envisioning.
Chelsea’s plan got a whole lot easier to execute when Alli was ruled out of the game, and the Spurs’ key miss could now be the away team’s gain.
Share 
