Sessegnon: Battle with my old England U19 pal James will be a marker of Tottenham’s season
RYAN SESSEGNON knows today’s battle against old pal Reece James and his Chelsea team-mates will provide a proper indication of where Tottenham are at.
Spurs burst out of the traps with a 4-1 win against sorry Southampton last weekend.
And they did so without any of the summer signings, who boosted confidence in the squad so greatly, starting the game.
It added to the belief at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that boss Antonio Conte is putting together a special team.
Illusions
But, while Sessegnon buys into that, he is under no illusions that today’s trip to Stamford Bridge will be a marker of where they are even at this early stage of the campaign, given the Blues beat them three times in as many weeks in January.
The former Fulham star said: “It will be a good test for us to see how far we’ve come from last
season. “But we’re a good team
as well, we’ll be going there to win the game and then we can see what the gap is between us.
“Coming through at Fulham, it’s obviously embedded in your brain to dislike Chelsea, so this game is extra special for me.
“And, against Reece, it will be a good match-up – I know him very well, he’s a great player.
“We played together for England in the youth-age groups, we won the Under-19s European Championship and we’ve been playing against each other since I was nine, when he was at Chelsea and I was at Fulham.
“We probably won’t talk before the match, but maybe after.
“We’ve gone out before, we have close mutual friends, other players, I know some of the Chelsea players and we have friends who aren’t footballers. I
think I know his weaknesses, but I won’t say too much now.
“What he has done for Chelsea and England has been very good, so it inspires you.”
Sessegnon, who scored his first Premier League goal for Spurs last weekend, always takes inspiration from other players and Gareth Bale is a childhood hero.
Powerful
He added: “Gareth was just so energetic – powerful and pacy.
“I remember the Champions League game for Spurs against Inter Milan, that type of stuff, he scored two in that game.
“I always watched those video clips and tried to emulate the way he played.
“If I add more goals and assists, it’s going to keep me in the team.”
Last weekend, did just that with the first against Southampton. And afterwards he joked that Conte – who won the title when he was Chelsea manager – would have killed him if he had missed, given that he had fluffed one just a few minutes earlier.
He is loving working for the passionate Italian, but says there is a softer side to his fiery boss than is portrayed generally.
Sessegnon said: “It gives us confidence because he’s been there and done it, he’s a very intelligent coach.
“Tactically, he’s very good.
“For each team he comes up with a different plan, so we will always feel like we’re ready.
“He knows
Chelsea have quality players in every position, but it’s about nullifying their threat. He has a soft side, too.
“There’s a jokey side to him people don’t see.
“But more often it’s down-toearth and serious.”
SESSEGNON was speaking at the Summer of Spurs — a free activity programme being delivered by the club in August to keep local youngsters engaged during the holidays, promoting health and well-being and reducing levels of crime and anti-social behaviour.