It’s master vs apprentice, Sith vs Jedi as the former Chelsea midfielder comes up against the man who moulded him into one Europe’s top players <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s December so there must be a new Star Wars film out, and though Darth Vader\u2019s death in the fiery remains of the second Death Star appears to have little relevance to the Premier League in 2019, Sunday sees Frank Lampard take his\u00a0Chelsea side,\u00a0his very own\u00a0rebel alliance,\u00a0to the most technologically advanced stadium in Europe to\u00a0face Jose Mourinho\u2019s Tottenham.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Luke, I am your father,” conceded an emotional Vader at Cloud City, and Mourinho vs Lampard has the feel of the first real parental battle in Premier League history.<\/p>\n
Yes, the likes of Steve Bruce and Mark Hughes took on Sir Alex Ferguson as managers, but they were fully formed players when the\u00a0legendary\u00a0Manchester United boss\u00a0managed them.\u00a0Lampard\u2019s story is different. His evolution\u00a0into one of the most impressive footballers in Europe was almost entirely down to his development under\u00a0Mourinho.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If it were just\u00a0Mourinho\u00a0against Lampard, this game would contain enough narrative to last the length of Christmas. It is, however,\u00a0Tottenham vs Chelsea, a fixture that the Blues have tended to have the upper hand in during the Premier League era and one that brought about one of the all-time classic Jose quips:<\/p>\n
“As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
That’s how Mourinho summarised a 0-0 draw with Spurs back in\u00a02004 as he accused his opponents of ultra-defensive tactics at Stamford Bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was correct to do so, but you can\u2019t blame Jacques Santini for setting up the likes of\u00a0Timothee Atouba and Noe\u00a0Pamarot in the way that he did.<\/p>\n
This was Tottenham’s\u00a029th league game in a row without a win against Chelsea. A point and a clean sheet in that context was virtually a victory. Job done.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It feels almost quaint to think of the mid-2000s and the sheer commitment to defending \u2013 for all of Mourinho\u2019s bus-related complaints, let\u2019s not forget that Chelsea won the league that season having conceded only 13 goals, plus two more after the title was sealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2019, defending has become a notion rather than a requirement. We are on course to see the first top-flight season with more than 2.9 goals per game since the 1960s, and Mourinho and Lampard are more than doing their bit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spurs have kept only one clean sheet in seven games under their new manager, while Chelsea have conceded 17 goals away from home in just eight Premier League excursions.<\/p>\n
A defeat on Sunday would be the Blues\u2019 third in a row, and the last time that happened was as reigning champions in the autumn of 2015, as Mourinho grumbled his way to the sack.<\/p>\n
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| Chelsea in 2019-20<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<\/table>\n table.tableizer-table { font-size: 14px; border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } .tableizer-table td { padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #CCC; } .tableizer-table th { background-color: #00a9ce; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold; }<\/p>\n
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