Chelsea vs Tottenham: Below-pressure Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou going through undesirable historical past at Stamford Bridge

Ange Postecoglou is going through undesirable historical past on Thursday.

Defeat at Chelsea, reside on Sky Sports, would see him develop into the primary Tottenham boss to lose his first 4 league video games in opposition to the Blues.

It can be yet one more damaging stat for the under-pressure Australian.

Thursday third April 7:30pm


Kick off 8:00pm

The 2-0 loss at Fulham earlier than the worldwide break noticed Tottenham fall to a fifteenth league defeat of the season – their joint-most at this stage of a Premier League marketing campaign (29 video games). It leaves them 14th within the desk and in peril of their lowest-ever Premier League end (fifteenth in 1994).

“Ange is clinging on to his job right now,” ex-Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara informed Sky Sports News within the wake of the Fulham defeat.

A day after the loss at Craven Cottage, a report in The Daily Telegraph claimed Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola and Fulham’s Marco Silva are among the many main candidates to exchange Postecoglou if Spurs determine to make a managerial change in the summertime.

The subsequent day, ex-Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino informed Sky Sports News he desires to “one day” return to the membership and has a “very good relationship” with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.

The warning lights have by no means been brighter for Postecoglou. So is his solely repair to win the Europa League and finish Spurs’ 17-year trophy drought?

“I think it is, I really do,” O’Hara mentioned. “Tottenham fans are booing them off the park [at Fulham]. If you take Europa League out of it for a second, if you’re looking at the Premier League table and you’re looking at the performances and the output from the players, it’s not good enough.

“[Postecoglou] is driving on the Europa League now. All the eggs are in that basket. If we get knocked out, he will lose his job.”

Poor London derby report and lack of first-half menace

Before that crunch Europa League quarter-final in opposition to Eintracht Frankfurt, Postecoglou has an opportunity to not solely choose up his first factors in opposition to Chelsea, however to enhance on Spurs’ depressing London derby report this season.

No facet has earned fewer factors in Premier League London derbies this time period than Tottenham, who’ve misplaced 5 of 9 such video games this marketing campaign (W3 D1).

Stamford Bridge is a graveyard for Spurs – and it proved so for Postecoglou final season.

A limp 2-0 defeat in west London noticed him fume at his gamers on the touchline in an explosive rant (watch under) because the guests did not have a shot on the right track within the first half.

Nearly a 12 months on, and an absence of first-half aim menace stays.

No shot on the right track within the opening 45 minutes at Fulham meant it was the ninth time Spurs have did not register a shot on the right track within the first half of a Premier League match underneath Postecoglou, which is greater than Spurs’ final two everlasting managers mixed – Antonio Conte (6) and Nuno Espirito Santo (2).

The free-flowing ‘Angeball’ that dazzled Spurs followers at first of Postecoglou’s tenure has fizzled out.

“I don’t really understand the credit that Ange has got in the bank, I really don’t,” O’Hara mentioned. “This is meant to be a football team and a football club that’s trying to get Champions League football, and one of the most profitable clubs in the world.

“I get it when Ange Postecoglou got here in. We had 10 video games unbeaten, high of the league and we had this thrilling soccer and everybody liked it. Well, I have not seen that actually since.”

Chelsea architects of Ange’s struggles

It was, the truth is, Thursday’s opponents Chelsea who have been the staff to set off Spurs’ decline in Premier League type.

The Blues’ 4-1 win on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium final season in a chaotic Monday Night Football (relive the Premier League traditional under) inflicted a primary league defeat for Postecoglou.

It additionally sparked a seemingly unending damage and suspension record that has vastly hampered Postecoglou.

Nonetheless, from that notorious November defeat to Chelsea, Spurs have suffered extra league defeats (27) than wins (22). And, as illustrated within the desk under, solely 4 ever-present Premier League golf equipment have taken fewer factors than Spurs from then.

Their away type has additionally been alarming. Only relegation-threatened sides Leicester (10) and Southampton (12) have misplaced extra Premier League away video games this season than Tottenham (8).

“Ever since we lost to Chelsea, we’ve just been exposed and teams have figured Spurs out,” O’Hara mentioned.

“I think the problem he’s had is that managers in the Premier League are top managers. Players are top players, they will adapt and they will figure out how to beat you.

“The first 10 games was a bit of an unknown quantity with Tottenham because you didn’t know what you were going to get from Ange Postecoglou.

“But since then, groups and gamers have figured you out, and Tottenham since then have not had a Plan B.

“Yes, they’ve had injuries, but I think we’re still trying to believe that we can be that team from those first 10 games that Ange had.

“For 18 months, it has been actually honestly surprising.”

But with a near-fully match squad at his disposal and hopes of successful silverware nonetheless firmly alive, Postecoglou now has the possibility to recapture that magic from his first two months in cost.

A primary victory over Chelsea can be a much-needed step in the proper path for the 59-year-old in a defining two months forward.