Rewind the clock 13 months and Chelsea had delivered a footballing lesson to Antonio Conte and Tottenham. Coming up against each other three times in January 2022, Thomas Tuchel's Blues came out on top on all three occasions.
Having already beaten the Lilywhites 3-0 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier in the season during Nuno Espirito Santo's short reign as head coach, many expected a big improvement against the west London club after making strides in Conte's first two months in charge. Instead, Chelsea secured a place in the Carabao Cup final after a 3-0 aggregate victory over two legs, before then coming out on top in the Premier League fixture with a 2-0 win following second-half goals from Hakim Ziyech and Thiago Silva.
Already mentioning a big difference between the clubs when speaking in his post-match press conferences after the two cup defeats, Conte once again outlined the enormous gap after the third and final defeat of the month against their opponents.
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"Today, for the performance I have to be proud of my players because we made a big effort and tried to do everything to get a big result," explained the 53-year-old. "Then I have to think that in 14 days we lost three times to Chelsea. It means there's a different level between us and them.
"To lose three games in 14 days means they are much stronger than you, as a team and as a squad. You have to accept this but only after a performance like tonight. Because we tried everything to get a big result here. But sometimes it's not enough, especially when you play against this type of team. This club are on another level compared to us."
He added: "I think that in the three games we played against Chelsea today was for me for the effort that I have seen I like it. In the second half of the Carabao Cup we gave a good game. We are improving, also to play against Chelsea.
"In this moment it is very difficult to face this type of team. Squad not team because they don't have 11 players, they have 22, 23 players at an important level and this made a big difference to the other teams."
Miraculously only four points behind Chelsea in the Premier League table at that point despite the huge gulf in class between the two clearly on show, Spurs finished the 2021/22 campaign three points behind their London rivals. With Chelsea perhaps falling over the line in the end after only registering four wins from their final 10 Premier League games, the way Tottenham finished the season to secure a Champions League berth gave everyone hope going into the new term that they could leapfrog the Blues in the standings.
That has proved to be the case with Tottenham currently sat in fourth and 11 points ahead of Graham Potter's side having played one game more. In truth, the lead really could be greater had it not been for Spurs' inconsistent form since October.
Chelsea, on the other hand, are currently languishing in 10th after a wretched season despite splurging £600million on transfers to improve their squad. Rather than moving forward as a team, the Blues have gone backwards by some way and that has left Potter under intense pressure having only taken on the Stamford Bridge hot seat in September.
Another defeat could well force Todd Boehly into a managerial change as last season's FA Cup and Carabao Cup finalists come into the match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with one win from their last eight league games. Last Saturday was perhaps their lowest point of the campaign as bottom club Southampton travelled to SW6 and left with all three points courtesy of a James Ward-Prowse free-kick.
So is this the perfect time for Tottenham to take on Chelsea? The Blues' recent results would certainly suggest so, although only a handful of Spurs fans if any may admit to feeling confident going into the showdown due to their dismal record against their London rivals.
Last beating Chelsea in the Premier League at Wembley in November 2018, Spurs have not won against the Blues in their previous eight league meetings with six defeats and two draws. One of those two draws came back in August after Harry Kane's stoppage-time equaliser rescued a point after a poor showing at Stamford Bridge.
Heading into the fixture in confident mood going on the way they finished the previous campaign and their comprehensive 4-1 win over Southampton on the opening day, it was as if Spurs went back into their shell against Chelsea even though their opponents had not come into the match in the best of form. Getting out of jail courtesy of Kane's equaliser in the final seconds, Conte once again admitted that "Chelsea showed to be better than us," but he also pointed to his team's "character and personality" to come away with a point.
Regardless of Chelsea's current malaise, Tottenham are still going to need to show that "character and personality" in order to get the better of Potter's men. One for thing sure is that Chelsea will not want a defeat against Tottenham to further compound their misery.
A win for Spurs, who will have Cristian Stellini in the dugout again while Conte rests from his recent operation, would see them open up a whopping 14-point lead over Chelsea ahead of the final three months of the Premier League season, something which many would not have predicted at all 13 months ago following the three meetings between the sides. Whereas Chelsea have gone backwards since January 2022, Tottenham have made big strides and they can keep moving forward as a team if they manage to iron out their inconsistent form.
Key to that will be finally securing a win over the Blues at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon and righting the wrongs of those three defeats just over a year ago.
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