"Tottenham Hotspur" team's first "Premier" league match at "Wembley" stadium could become the most important match of the whole season for the team, and a victory against "Chelsea" would help them take a big step towards the "Premier" league champions title - says former footballer and "Premier" league expert Jamie Redknapp. On Sunday, "Spurs" will have their first "Premier" league match at "Wembley" stadium, where they have temporarily moved until the construction works at their new, £800 million stadium are completed. Mauricio Pochettino's team started the season with a win against "Newcastle United", and in their first home match of the season, they will host the country's champions "Chelsea", who started the season unsuccessfully. Last weekend, "Chelsea" shockingly lost at home to the "Burnley" team, and J. Redknapp is convinced that the "blues" team is very vulnerable before Sunday's match. "At the moment, Chelsea is injured and you could not find a better time to play against this team. You can just feel that they are already pulling out their excuses and just looking for justification. We are starting to hear such statements that Antonio Conte is not a good coach, but last season he was simply phenomenal. We did not hear such statements coming from the Chelsea camp last year, and Tottenham must take advantage of this and start at Wembley with a victory. "The Blues" weakened their team this summer when they simply needed to maintain their existing squad, and their difficult start to the season could have been predicted by observing the team's preparation for the season," - former Tottenham captain told Sky Sports. Meanwhile, "Spurs" did not take very active actions in the transfer market this summer - the team only lost Kyle Walker, and they reached their first agreement for a newcomer just on Friday, when they reached an agreement for the transfer of "Ajax" defender Davinson Sanchez. Although, "Tottenham" team coach M. Pochettino hopes that by the transfer window closing his team will acquire three more newcomers, J. Redknapp believes that the consistent starting eleven of this team recently could change their further actions in the transfer market with their successful play. "I admire the Spurs team and would be very surprised if they do not win these matches. They beat Chelsea last year, after two Dele Alli head strikes, and looking at the defense of these teams, I doubt whether Chelsea can compete with them in this area. Nemanja Matic and N'Golo Kante formed a perfect balance in that defense, but their duo has already been broken up. Tiemoue Bakayoko had injury problems even playing for Monaco, and injuries are still haunting him in England. Christian Eriksen caused them a lot of problems when the teams met at White Hart Lane, and Tottenham team caused the most problems to the aristocrats over the past 12 months. For players like D. Alli, these matches will be a great experience not only for their future in the Tottenham ranks but also for the England national team. He is an incredible talent, and having Harry Kane in their lineup, this team has the best center forward in the country. Looking at their starting lineup, we must understand that even without newcomers they should not be afraid of any opponents, regardless of whether they play at Wembley stadium or elsewhere. Speaking of Chelsea and Arsenal teams, you can see their vulnerability, so Spurs players should think: "This year we can win the Premier League". I do not exaggerate at all when I say that these matches will determine almost their entire season. If they manage to win, they will gain even more confidence in their abilities, and people around them will finally stop talking about their unsuccessful past performances at Wembley stadium," - emphasized the importance of the match J. Redknapp. The match will take place on August 20th at 6:00 pm at "Wembley" stadium. News from the team camps: Tottenham will continue without Danny Rose and Erik Lamela, and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou is also not ready for the match. Kieran Trippier has returned to team training and could play his first match of the season. Chelsea will play without suspended Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas. Due to injury, Eden Hazard will definitely not help the team, and Pedro and Tiemoue Bakayoko have only recently returned to training and could also miss this match. The team will also not be helped by Diego Costa, who refuses to return to team training. Predicted starting lineups: "Tottenham Hotspur": Lloris; Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Dier; Trippier, Wanyama, Dembele, Davies; Eriksen, Alli, Kane. "Chelsea": Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Rudiger; Moses, Bakayoko, Kante, Alonso; Willian, Batshuayi, Morata. Teams' history against each other: Chelsea has won 67 games, Tottenham - 51, and 40 matches ended in a draw. The last five matches between them: 2017 04 22 (FA Cup): Chelsea - Tottenham Hotspur - 4:2 2017 01 04 (Premier League): Tottenham Hotspur - Chelsea - 2:0 2016 11 26 (Premier League): Chelsea - Tottenham Hotspur - 2:1 2016 05 02 (Premier League): Chelsea - Tottenham Hotspur - 2:2 2015 11 29 (Premier League): Tottenham Hotspur - Chelsea - 0:0 Interesting facts about the upcoming match: Harry Kane has not yet scored a single goal in August in his career in the Premier League, although he has already played 11 Premier League matches in this month. However, the player performs much better against London teams - in 21 games, he scored 18 goals against them; Out of the last 17 matches against Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea suffered only two losses (8 wins, 7 draws); These matches will be the first Premier League matches played by the teams at Wembley Stadium. This stadium will be the 58th to host at least one Premier League match; With a victory, Tottenham would reach a club record - 15 consecutive wins at home in the Premier League. They are just 6 wins away from the all-time record of the highest English league - in 1972, Liverpool achieved 21 consecutive wins at home; Last season, the Tottenham Hotspur team did not experience any losses at home in the Premier League (17 wins and 2 draws). The last time they suffered a defeat at home in the country's championship was in May 2015, when the team lost to Southampton. However, last season in the Champions League tournament, they lost at home to both Monaco and Bayer teams; In the 13 London derbies where Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs team were the hosts, they have not experienced any failures (9 wins, 4 draws); Since winning the league cup final against Chelsea in 2008, Tottenham team at Wembley stadium in 9 games only celebrated one victory (2 draws, 6 losses); Christian Eriksen has directly contributed to the last few goals of his team against Chelsea (1 goal and 5 assists); If Harry Kane manages to score in these matches, it would be his 100th goal in a Tottenham Hotspur jersey; The last time Chelsea lost the first two league matches of the season was back in 1973. By the way, one of those failures was experienced against "Burnley" in the opening match; Out of eight failures Antonio Conte had while coaching the Chelsea team, a significant part of them (seven) were recorded in London; The last time Premier League champions started the season with two consecutive defeats was back in 1981 when Aston Villa players suffered two losses in a row; Since August 2005, reigning Premier League champions (Chelsea and Leicester City) have lost 31 out of 77 matches in the country's competitions and celebrated only 24 victories; Alvaro Morata could become only the fourth Chelsea player to score at least one goal in his first two Premier League matches. Until now, only Adrian Mutu (in 2003), Deco (in 2008), and Diego Costa (in 2014) have achieved this.
