It's early days but Chelsea's clash with Tottenham already feels decisive for the season to come

A defeat in Chelsea's current circumstances would feel significant, and potentially damaging, for the side. A win, by contrast, would be so invigorating

Antonio Conte has quite the task on his hands as he bids to prepare his side mentally and tactically for Sunday's clash (Getty)

It was Thursday morning at Cobham when Antonio Conte finally started intensively working on Chelsea’s tactics for this week’s match away to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.

With so many absences, and so short a squad, the Italian must solve a problem that could yet go a long way to influencing the champions’ entire campaign. He must come up with a team and a tactic that at least avoids a second defeat of the season, and one to a local rival and title challenger that would so deepen the mood of disquiet around Stamford Bridge after the 3-2 home defeat to Burnley.

It is genuinely that big a game already, and one that could create a bit of history since no defending champion in the Premier League era has lost their opening two games. Even if that stat alone would predictably bring something of an overreaction, there would still be a lot for Chelsea to think over.

All of that is also exactly why there is said to be a state of readiness and eagerness around the training ground for this match, especially since Conte spent the early part of the week working on mentality, on the mood. The players want to make amends for last week and get back on track, with all of that sharpened because it’s Tottenham.

The constant message from Cobham is that is “it’s not 2015”. Unlike then, Chelsea’s chaotic opening match was not complicated by an incident between the manager and physio that left the entire squad discussing it, as was the case with Jose Mourinho’s infamous public criticism of Dr Eva Carneiro.

“Conte is not Mourinho” either, as one source added, and there just isn’t anything like the same edginess about the training ground as two years ago. Many also feel that the type of spirited nine-man rally seen in the second half against Burnley simply wouldn’t have come in 2015. The players are taking encouragement from that, as well as the thought that the entire match was something of a freak due to the greatly diminished team Conte had to put out and the way negative moments seemed to compound and escalate from Gary Cahill’s red card.


 Conte has spent much of the build-up to the London derby focusing on mentality 
 (Getty)

But that process of ‘escalation’ is also precisely why this could still be such a problem period for Chelsea - even if it doesn’t have to be 2015.

The mood still didn’t feel completely right going into that Burnley match, especially with Conte so conspicuously talking about how people were right that the champions wouldn’t defend their title if they didn’t sign more players.

Sources from the squad say the issue of diminished numbers had “got into their heads” and, even if that obviously wasn’t going to affect performance levels, it would have been the kind of subconscious thought that only deepened the feeling it was one of those days when the problem mounted on the opening day.

So what would defeat to Tottenham do? Bubbling disgruntlement around the Chelsea camp could feasibly become intense pressure, a real crisis, and then it would be fair to wonder whether Conte should have set a different tone on the eve of the season. At the same time, it can’t be escaped that the manager has a very fair point. His squad is far too short, and he does need another four signings.


 Can Chelsea put Burnley behind them to beat rivals Tottenham? 
 (Getty)

It is equally fair to wonder whether Chelsea can get their men with just 13 days of the transfer window left, even if those close to the club’s hierarchy remain strident that there is plenty of proof they always get business done when required.

What’s required now is a lot, but there is a lot to overcome. Conte wants two wing-backs but Juventus are insisting there is “no chance” that first-choice Sandro is leaving, although Southampton’s Cedric Soares looks a more likely option. Chelsea would just have to meet his club’s valuation, as is the case with Leicester City’s Danny Drinkwater, whose price is set at around £40m. Julian Draxler could yet prove an option given that Paris Saint-Germain don’t want him, but there are currently no such alternatives up front.

It all means that Conte has to come up with some kind of alternative solution for his team, made all the worse by the fact they face such an evidently in-tune Spurs side.

He is going to have to find a system to counter and hurt them with his best player in Eden Hazard injured, his captaining centre-half Gary Cahill suspended, his main creative midfielder Cesc Fabregas also banned and new midfield signing Tiemoue Bakayoko fighting to get fit. Pedro should be back and Victor Moses will return from his own suspension, so Conte is really going to have to find a way to maximise their pace while also solidifying midfield.


 Conte has a tactical headache to solve for Sunday's game 
 (Getty)

It has been suggested that Andreas Christensen will come into defence, but this is what Conte is now going to work out over the next two days. The Italian is said to enjoy that part of the job, applying tactical innovations on the training ground, more than anything. He will need it to get Chelsea enjoying themselves again.

What he ultimately decides could have such a bearing on their mood right now, and their whole campaign. A defeat in such circumstances would feel so significant. A win, by contrast, would be so invigorating.