Spurs riding on momentum for FA Cup showdown vs Chelsea
They can’t keep a clean sheet. Their striker has stopped scoring. Their opponents have worked out how to stifle them.
The Chelsea juggernaut might just be starting to slow, just when English soccer’s major trophies are about to be decided.
Chelsea and Tottenham park their battle for the Premier League title for one weekend when they meet at Wembley Stadium on Saturday for the first of two blockbuster semifinals in the FA Cup.
There’s no doubt which of the two teams has the momentum.
In the white corner, there’s Spurs, the form team in the country with eight straight wins in all competitions, during which they’ve scored 28 goals. They have the meanest defense around and arguably the hottest striker in Harry Kane.
Chelsea, meanwhile, is still the Premier League leader - by four points over Tottenham - and could yet finish the season with the domestic double. But cracks are starting to show.
Antonio Conte’s side last kept a clean sheet in the league on Jan. 22, 11 games ago. Top scorer Diego Costa hasn’t scored in his last six matches. Chelsea has lost two of its last four games, to Crystal Palace and Manchester United.
In those games, Palace and United played two up front to pressurize Chelsea’s three-man backline. Tottenham did the same in beating Chelsea 2-0 at White Hart Lane in the league in January. Tottenham and United also played wing backs in those matches to negate the threat of Chelsea’s wide players.
There looks to be a formula to stop Chelsea, provided opponents have the personnel to achieve it, and Spurs clearly do.
“It won’t be easy,” Conte said, looking ahead to the semifinal, “because Tottenham now is the best team. They are in good form and they have a lot of enthusiasm. They are feeling the possibility to write the history.”
Spurs last lifted the FA Cup in 1991 and haven’t won the league since 1961. But they look the real deal under Mauricio Pochettino, and just need a piece of silverware to mark their ascent toward the summit of the English game.
Still, Pochettino is discounting form and making Chelsea the favorite.
“If there is one favorite, it’s more Chelsea because they are on the top of the table in the Premier League and (with) the experienced players they have, and the manager that they have,” Pochettino said on Thursday. “We are talking of the team that maybe in the last five years has won European competitions ... a manager that won the league with Juventus in Italy.
“It’s a more experienced team than us. But we’re in a good moment, too, a hungry team. To challenge now this type of club, of team, is a very important thing for Tottenham.”
Former Baroda batsman Tushar Arothe has been named the Indian women’s cricket team coach, replacing Purnima Rau, who claims she was not taken into confidence before the change was made.
“I have been a very successful coach and have been part of eight series wins in the past two years. Without any information or talking to me, they removed me,” the former India captainsaid.
“One month before the World Cup, if you are making such drastic changes, to a successful team, that means you are not thinking about the country,” she said.