PREVIEW: Chelsea v Tottenham - 3 points means so much for different reasons.

This evening, Chelsea take on Tottenham at Stamford Bridge and as the title of this post says, "3 points means so much for different reasons. Both sides are desperate for all three points and anything else would be a disaster and it's as simple as that.

For Spurs, they still have an eye on finishing fourth above Man City with a game at Eastlands still to play (similar to last season) and a win today would re-affirm the belief that it is possible. For Chelsea, we need three points to put pressure on United. If we win we move to within just three points and will wait and see what happens as United travel to Arsenal tomorrow afternoon. Both sides simply cannot afford to drop any points at all and it could be all or nothing today.

Looking at the game and the coverage of Carlo's press conference, the biggest question is will Chelsea change their formation from the 4-3-3 that has served us so well in recent weeks and seasons or will he change to 4-4-2 with Drogba and Torres up front?. If it was me, I would stick with the 4-3-3 formation and maybe bring in Torres for Kalou and play him through the middle with Drogba starting to the right of him but as the game goes on, playing around him. Let be honest, Drogba drops deep and moves out wide anyway so it seems as though it would be a perfect match.

The good news for Chelsea is that it looks as though everyone is back fit and available for Carlo to select from today. So my team today is:

Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry(C), Cole, Essien, Mikel, Lampard, Drogba, Torres and Malouda.

For Spurs, Harry knows it all or nothing today so it would be very interesting to see how they line up against Chelsea today. We know they have players unavailable especially down their left hand side with Bale and Assou-Ekotto missing. Could this be the key area in the game today?.

I expect Crouch to start up top with Van Der Vaart in behind him. Spurs will look to keep things tight at the back, work hard in midfield and rely on these two to come up with something. The problem is, and I have said this before, if the game is 0-0 all it takes is one lump up top to Crouch to get on the end of and it could make us pay. Chelsea need to be aware of the threat that Spurs pose all over the pitch.

Alot was said last week of the amount of chances West Ham created at the Bridge and it's important that Chelsea defend better today. No disrespect to West Ham, but Tottenham are a better side and could punish us if the same problems defending happen today.

However, Spurs can also on their day be sloppy in defence aswell as being tight so it will be interesting to see if Chelsea can create openings early in the game. If Chelsea do, Spurs will sit deeper, their midfield will be sucked back towards their defence and Crouch and VDV will become isolated.

The thing about the game today is that it's Chelsea v Tottenham. Gone are the days where all of us Chelsea fans thought to ourselves "Three easy points" because we have only won one of the last seven games against Spurs.

This is a London derby, this is all or nothing and will be a battle. Right now both clubs and sets of supporters realise what this game means more than anything right now and no matter how we play, all we want is three points.

For me, there will be a single goal in it. Of course being a Chelsea fan I am going to call it 1-0 Chelsea, but you have to admit, we are the form side, scoring goals again and based on Spurs' results in recent games and the players they have missing, I think it's fair comment.

Let's hope I am right!

KTBFFH

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