Chelsea vs Tottenham LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction tonight
Follow all the live action from Stamford Bridge
Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of a huge London derby between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. Thomas Tuchel’s side have already beaten Spurs three times so far this season, scoring seven goals and keeping three clean sheets in the process. But Chelsea have struggled of late as their title ambitions have slipped away. They now sit 13 points off Manchester City as securing a top four place becomes a more realistic target.
Meanwhile, Spurs are unbeaten in nine Premier League games under Antonio Conte and are now in a superb position to qualify for next season’s Champions League. A win this afternoon would take them into the top four - and victory at Stamford Bridge would also see Tottenham move just five points behind Chelsea with four games in hand.
But history sides with Chelsea. Spurs have only beaten their London rivals once at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League - a win which came in April 2018 as a Dele Alli brace saw them clinch a 3-1 victory. In all competitions, Tottenham have not scored against Chelsea in any of their last five meetings, ensuring they will be extremely motivated this afternoon as a win significantly closes the gap between the two sides. Follow all the team news and match action as Chelsea host Tottenham below, after the conclusion of Crystal Palace vs Liverpool:
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp has won all six Premier League away fixtures against Crystal Palace - it’s a record for most away matches by a manager against a single opponent without ever dropping points.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
Christian Benteke scored nine times in 29 top-flight appearances for Liverpool in 2015-16 and has scored six Premier League goals against the Reds.
He starts on the bench today.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp on ‘world class’ Diogo Jota
Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, spoke after the Reds’ victory over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final about the impace Diogo Jota has had on the team since joining from Wolves.
He said that Jota works hard and links up well with his teammates in order to become a top class talent. Klopp said:
Diogo [Jota] came here and was an outstanding player, to be honest, but of course it helps – when you are a striker especially – when your team has a bit more possession than the former team maybe. And that’s already helpful. The players around help.
“He had to do an awful lot to make it happen. So as good as the passes were from Trent [Alexander-Arnold], especially the second one, there was still a job to do.
“Diogo is a really impressive person, really grown-up and really mature young man. Loves obviously football, loves working, loves training and all these kinds of things, and that is very helpful.
“He was in the middle of the team after three or four weeks, so there was no time really needed for adapting to whatever. Yes, for the way we play a little bit, that took probably longest.
“But that process is finalised obviously as well. I am really happy for him, just that he can show up because if you have this quality it’s nice if you can show it in public and that’s what he did now a couple of times.”
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
Fabinho is one short of 300 career league appearances and will bring up the landmark when he starts against Crystal Palace today.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
Crystal Palace’s current 10-match scoring streak at home is the club’s second longest in the top flight after a run of 12 games from February to October 1990.
Conor Gallagher has been directly involved in 10 Premier League goals in 18 appearances for Crystal Palace. Andrew Johnson is the only Eagles player ever to reach double figures in fewer games.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool: James Milner on Patrick Vieira
Liverpool midfielder James Milner spoke to Premier League Productions about playing with Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira and what he expects from Crystal Palace today. He said:
"We know from the home game how well Pat [Vieira] has got them playing. I think he’s going to do a great job there.
"Obviously I was lucky to play with Patrick at Manchester City, I know what a special player he was. But his mentality, and talking to him after the home game and knowing his ideas and the winning mentality, he’s trying to get that into the club.
"You look at the season they have had so far – and a few of the results they’ve had where they lost out on points late in the game and been a bit unlucky – I think he is doing a fantastic job there and [will] continue to do that. Hopefully he doesn’t do too well on the weekend.
"It’s important that we finish strong and then we have a break after that, so it’s always important that you finish a run of games before a break with a good result.
"So, it’s important that we can do that but it will be a tough game and, like I said, they have got some good players as well and players playing well and full of confidence."
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have won 10 of their 11 league games this season against teams who started the gameweek in the bottom half of the table, only dropping points in a 3-3 draw at Brentford.
However, Liverpool could go five league matches without a win in London for the first time since October 2015 and they have dropped points in each of their last three Premier League away games.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool
Crystal Palace have only won twice in 10 league games and are in danger of losing successive home fixtures for the first time under Patrick Vieira.
But, the Eagles have won two of their last three Premier League encounters against sides starting the day in the top three of the table, beating Tottenham 3-0 and Manchester City 2-0 this season.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool: Vieira on the last meeting
Patrick Vieira says he took some positives out of the reverse fixture at Anfield despite Crystal Palace losing that match 3-0 back in September.
He says that Liverpool are one of the ‘greatest teams in Europe’ but is determined to give them a difficult game today. The Eagles’ boss said:
There were positives to take from that game because we created enough to score a couple but on the other side we came home with a loss and conceded three goals. Analysing that game we knew it was one we needed to improve.
“I think the team is getting better but we’re not there yet. Liverpool, I believe, is one of the greatest teams in Europe. The way they play, they might win or might lose, but you’ll enjoy watching because of the intensity.
“It’s going to be a challenge for us but our record at home has been good and we have to give them the game they expect: a difficult one.”
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool: Head-to-head
Crystal Palace have lost nine successive Premier League meetings between the two sides since a 2-1 win at Anfield in April 2017. The Eagles have never suffered 10 successive top-flight defeats against a single opponent.
Palace’s club record 7-0 home defeat in this fixture last season was their sixth league loss in a row against Liverpool at Selhurst Park.
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