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Jamie Carragher has branded Chelsea star Marc Cucurella ’embarrassing’ after his double error in Sunday’s showdown against Tottenham.

Goals from Spurs duo Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski saw Chelsea trail 2-0 with just 11 minutes on the clock in north London.

Cucurella was partly at fault for both goals as the Spain international defender lost his footing and allowed his opponents to regain possession.

The 26-year-old ran to the touchline to change his boots after Kulusevski made it 2-0, which infuriated Sky Sports football pundit Carragher.

‘Cucurella’s coming to the bench, don’t blame anyone else – it’s your own fault son!’ Liverpool legend Carragher said on commentary duties.

‘Absolute schoolboy stuff. Embarrassing. He slips again. Look at him shrugging his shoulders. Did he not do a warm-up?’

Clinton Morrison, working as a pundit for the BBC, added: ‘It is brilliant. Cucurella is blaming his boots.

‘Look at yourself, you are the professional player. But from Kulusevski, that is a brilliant finish.’

Chelsea signed Cucurella from Brighton in a deal worth over £60m in the summer of 2022 and he endured a tough start at Stamford Bridge

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He faced lots of criticism from pundits, but has since turned his form around and has impressed this season under head coach Enzo Maresca.

Earlier this year, Cucurella took a swipe at the critics who ‘kept coming’ for him during his difficult spell when he first joined the club.

‘I had been at humbler teams before Chelsea and I got there at a time of change, a difficult time, with lots of players, lots of coaches,’ Cucurella told The Guardian.

‘It was [like it was] all my fault; they kept coming for me. People see the price and think you’re a machine that’s going to score 50 goals and provide 50 assists. That’s business between clubs: they agree [the fee], nothing to do with me.’

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Chelsea are looking to keep pace at the top of the Premier League heading into a huge London derby against Tottenham today.

The Blues have plundered eight goals in their last two games and head to north London in wonderful form, sat in second place behind league leaders Liverpool.

Enzo Maresca made seven changes against Southampton midweek, changes that paid off brilliantly as his side cruised to a 5-1 win Christopher Nkunku among the goal scorers.

Nicolas Jackson was given the night off but will be expected to return to the starting XI at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where he scored a hat-trick last season.

Noni Madueke has been part of Maresca’s relatively settled attacking unit this season but the Chelsea coach took aim at the winger on Wednesday night.

Despite scoring and starting against Saints, Maresca accused the winger of taking his foot off the gas as soon as he ‘scores or assists’, dropped from the side last weekend as a result.

Elsewhere, Levi Colwill was also rested midweek and will likely return today. Wesley Fofana and Reece James are still ‘weeks away’ from being available again, with the Frenchman’s absence a blow at the back.

Benoit Badiashile and Tosin Aarabioyo have proven to be capable deputies this season with Axel Disasi also playing the full 90 minutes for the first time in the league this season midweek.

Mykhailo Mudryk is Chelsea’s only other fitness doubt with the winger struck down by illness this week.

Tottenham meanwhile are reeling from a midweek defeat at Bournemouth that saw away fans aim their ire at Ange Postecoglou post-match.

Dominic Solanke was back in the side on Thursday, playing the full 90 minutes after his recent illness absence.

Spurs are desperately short at the back and will hope to have Cristian Romero available again.

The Argentine has not played since October with a toe injury with Micky van de Ven also still not available. Should Romero not be deemed fit, Archie Gray is likely to fill in alongside Radu Dragusin.

Rodrigo Bentancur remains suspended with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario sidelined with an ankle injury.

Son Heung-min was rested against the Cherries midweek and will be expected to return to the starting XI today.

Predicted Tottenham XI to face Chelsea

Forster, Porro, Romero, Dragusin, Udogie, Bissouma, Sarr, Kulusevski, Johnson, Son, Solanke

Predicted Chelsea XI to face Tottenham

Sanchez, Gusto, Badiashile, Colwill, Cucurella, Fernandez, Caicedo, Neto, Palmer, Sancho, Jackson

Where to watch Tottenham vs Chelsea? Kick off time and TV channel

Tottenham vs Chelsea kicks off at 4:30pm on Sunday 8 December.

The match will be available to watch live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event. Subscribers can also live stream the match on Sky Go and NOW TV.

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Ange Postecoglou will be sacked as Tottenham manager if the club are 10th or worse in the Premier League at Christmas, believes Jamie O’Hara.

Tottenham were beaten 1-0 at Bournemouth on Thursday night, leaving them with just one win in six games in all competitions.

That victory was a memorable 4-0 win at Manchester City, but Premier League form is a big concern as the loss to the Cherries was the sixth of the season already.

Spurs are 10th in the table and O’Hara reckons that position must be improved quickly or the Australian could be gone by the end of the month.

‘Look, I like Ange, I like the football he plays, I do. But, there’s a big but coming, but this is getting old, this football, in terms of set-pieces and playing out from the back,’ the former Tottenham midfielder said on talkSPORT.

‘Daniel Levy ain’t going to stand for this. I’m telling you now. If he thinks he can go all the way through the season and keep defending like this, keep having set-pieces like this, he will get sacked.

‘Daniel Levy is all about Champions League football, Europa League minimum. If Spurs are 10th in the table after Christmas, they will sack Ange. I’m telling you, they will sack him. This can’t continue.

‘I feel like he’s starting to run on thin ice. I need to see more. One from the players because the players again tonight let themselves down, but I need more from the manager.’

The 59-year-old went over to Tottenham fans after the game and seemed to exchange words with one in particular.

‘The fans have every right to be disappointed with the way it went tonight,’ he said. ‘I got some pretty direct feedback [on the pitch at the end] with the way that we are going at the moment and that is rightly so.

‘They are all big games coming up. We have to get ourselves out of the space we are in at the minute where we can’t get a real grip on the season.’

Asked what the fan said to him, Postecoglou added: ‘Yeah, that’s probably not for here mate.’

Postecoglou has not been helped by a string of injuries to first choice players, with Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero all out, while Richarlison, Wilson Odobert and Mikey Moore are all also sidelined and Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended.

Spurs, incredibly, have five more games before Christmas, starting with a Premier League clash with Chelsea on Sunday.

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Paul Merson has stated that Chelsea ‘probably have the strongest squad in the Premier League’ ahead of their showdown against Tottenham.

Arsenal icon and football pundit Merson – a lifelong Chelsea fan – is backing the Blues to beat Spurs away from home in their next game.

Chelsea have been flying under head coach Enzo Maresca this season with some pundits insisting that they must now be considered title challengers.

The Blues are currently second in the Premier League table – above Arsenal and Manchester City – with Maresca’s team seven points behind Liverpool.

Chelsea have some top players in their squad, including Cole Palmer, who has provided nine goals and six assists in 14 top-flight games this term.

Speaking ahead of the west Londoners’ trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, Merson told Sportskeeda: ‘[Chelsea] have a good squad, probably the strongest in the Premier League.

‘But they played Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool this season and took just one point. That is why they are not contenders yet.’

Merson added: ‘If you’re a fan, Tottenham away from home is Chelsea’s biggest game of the season.

‘Chelsea lost in this fixture last season so this is a huge game. If they can win against Spurs, it will send a massive statement.

‘I won’t label Tottenham as one of the ‘big boys’ in the league but they are a team that can beat a lot of teams and we’ve seen that already this season.

‘If Chelsea secure a top-four finish and win a trophy, this would become a phenomenal season for them. Anything more than that would be incredible but unlikely.

‘Ange Postecoglou wants Tottenham to be entertaining that’s how they try to play.

‘Chelsea have better players in nearly every position and may have too much for Spurs to handle. Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Chelsea.’

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Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham fans have ‘every right to be disappointed’ after he was subjected to fervent boos following the defeat to Bournemouth.

Spurs’ turbulent and chaotic season continued on Thursday night as they were beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth.

Dean Huijsen’s early header separated the sides at the Vitality Stadium but in truth Bournemouth should have won by more, wasting several chances to extend their lead.

Tottenham produced a brilliant performance to thrash Manchester City 4-0 just two weeks ago but the north London side have since drawn with Roma and Fulham and lost to Bournemouth.

The defeat on the south coast leaves Spurs just 10th in the Premier League, six points outside the Champions League places.

‘It is not good enough,’ Postecoglou told Amazon Prime. ‘We again fell into the trap of starting the game really well, we were in control and then we conceded a really poor goal.

‘Then we kind of lost our way a little bit and allowed Bournemouth to play the game that they wanted to. We had our moments in the second half but we could not get a goal.

‘I don’t know if they had more urgency but we have this sort of propensity to shoot ourselves in the foot when we should be controlling games.

‘They are hard to beat here and what you should not do is give them a goal that gives them the momentum they need.

‘We started to play with a bit more conviction at the beginning of the second half and made some good chances.

‘Again we made things difficult for ourselves by allowing the opposition to take the game in the direction that they want.’

Postecoglou faced intense boos as he went over to applaud the travelling away fans and appeared to exchange a few words with at least one supporter before heading back to the dug-out.

‘The fans have every right to be disappointed with the way it went tonight,’ he said. ‘I got some pretty direct feedback [on the pitch at the end] with the way that we are going at the moment and that is rightly so.

‘They are all big games coming up. We have to get ourselves out of the space we are in at the minute where we can’t get a real grip on the season.’

Asked what the fan said to him, Postecoglou added: ‘Yeah, that’s probably not for here mate.’

The former Celtic boss then reiterated that he was not overly bothered by the negative interaction.

‘I’ve got no issue with it,’ he insisted. ‘I didn’t like what was being said because I’m a human being but you’ve got to cop it.

‘I’ve been around long enough to know that if things don’t go well, you’ve got to understand the frustration and disappointment.

‘They’re right disappointed tonight because again we’ve let a game of football get away from us. That’s ok, I’m ok with all of that.’

While it was a disappointing night for Spurs, Bournemouth’s promising run under Andoni Iraola continued as the Cherries climbed into the top-half of the Premier League.

Bournemouth captain Adam Smith said: ‘At home we are a force, even away from home, we press high and we don’t care about who the opponent is. Here the crowd gets behind us and our mentality is top.

‘It was frustrating that we had a few good chances, especially at the end, and didn’t score. Teams like this you have to finish them off.

‘Credit to the defenders though who did fantastically at the other end and it was another great win.

‘We have got so many exciting players. The club has done so well in recruiting big talents and we have so many options to come off the bench too.

‘The club is moving forward for sure, we have a new training ground coming, the owner wants to build a new stadium as well. We just need to keep building forward.

‘The sky is the limit, for sure. The owner wants to do big things, we have got a great manager as well, it is only positive things going forward.

‘After we beat Man City and Arsenal we went to Brentford away and it is teams like that which we struggle with sometimes.

‘We need to get up for those games, especially against the teams in and around us. This league is so tough and it is only getting better, which is scary.’

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Chelsea have another chance to prove their Premier League title credentials in a huge London derby against Tottenham this weekend.

While much of the talk has centered on Manchester City’s fall from grace, Chelsea have quietly gone about their business in thrilling fashion and are currently in second place, level on points with Arsenal and seven behind league leaders Liverpool.

Enzo Maresca has routinely changed his entirely starting XI for midweek European games this season and made seven changes against Southampton midweek.

It paid off brilliantly as the Blues cruised to a 5-1 win Christopher Nkunku among the goal scorers.

Nicolas Jackson was given the night off but will be expected to return to the starting XI at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where he scored a hat-trick last season.

Noni Madueke has been part of Maresca’s relatively settled attacking unit this season but the Chelsea coach took aim at the winger on Wednesday night.

Despite scoring and starting against Saints, Maresca accused the winger of taking his foot off the gas as soon as he ‘scores or assists’, dropped from the side last weekend as a result.

Elsewhere, Levi Colwill was also rested midweek and will likely return this weekend but Cheslea are still to provide a precise timeline on Wesley Fofana’s return after he was forced off against Villa.

Maresca’s comments have suggested he may not play again this year but both Benoit Badiashile and Tosin Aarabioyo have proven to be capable deputies, with Axel Disasi also playing the full 90 minutes for the first time in the league this season midweek.

Reece James meanwhile also remains sidelined after picking up a fresh hamstring injury.

Predicted Chelsea XI to face Tottenham

Sanchez, Gusto, Badiashile, Colwill, Cucurella, Fernandez, Caicedo, Neto, Palmer, Sancho, Jackson

Where to watch Tottenham vs Chelsea? Kick off time and TV channel

Tottenham vs Chelsea kicks off at 4:30pm on Sunday 8 December.

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The match will be available to watch live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event. Subscribers can also live stream the match on Sky Go and NOW TV.

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Robert Sanchez may have been dropped for Chelsea’s win over Southampton on Wednesday, but Enzo Maresca says he is the only guaranteed starter when the Blues face Tottenham this weekend.

Filip Jorgensen was in goal against the Saints as Chelsea romped to a 5-1 win at St Mary’s.

Goals from Axel Diasasi, Christopher Nkunku, Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho kept up Chelsea’s impressive recent form and heaped more pain on bottom of the table Southampton.

Maresca mixed things up from his more regular Premier League starting XI as Nicolas Jackson, Levi Colwill and Pedro Netro also had to settle for places on the bench.

However, it is Sanchez who he has confirmed will definitely play at Tottenham on Sunday, while keeping the rest of his team a mystery.

Asked if Jorgensen could keep his place at Spurs, Maresca said: ‘That day we are going to play Sanchez and 10 players. The only one that is sure is Sanchez.’

Chelsea are the top-scorers in the Premier League as they took their tally to 31 in 14 games, but while the Italian was pleased with their performance in front of goal he wasn’t thrilled with the display in its entirety.

‘I’m very happy with the five we scored but I’m not happy about the first 10 or 15 minutes when we struggled,’ he said. ‘The reason why we struggled is because we prepared the game to press them man-to-man but in the first 15 or 20 minutes, we were not pressing them man-to-man.

‘This is a team that if you don’t go man-to-man, then you struggle to recover the ball.

‘Then after that, we adjusted that and the game was much better. But we could score more, but five goals is enough.’

Maresca’s side is exceeding expectations so far this season, sitting second in the table, with just two defeats in 14 outings.

‘The results help a lot, and calm down the noise around the club,’ he said. ‘It’s a good feeling to see the fans happy after the last two years when many things happened. You can see now the feeling from them is good.’

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Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has appeared to aim a subtle dig at Arsenal and Spurs’ other Premier League rivals over injury complaints.

Arsenal and Manchester City have portioned some of the blame for poor results this term on injuries to key stars, including Martin Odegaard and Rodri.

Spurs are in the middle of an injury crisis themselves with centre-back duo Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven both missing Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Fulham.

Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin started for the third time in a week but Postecoglou is refusing to use injuries as an excuse like others teams do.

‘I’ve seen so much violin-playing over [other teams having] one centre-back out, but we’re just supposed to get on with it,’ Postecoglou said.

The Spurs head coach then added: ‘Benny and Radu have been outstanding throughout this spell.

‘I mean there aren’t too many teams in the league who have both their centre-backs out. The beauty of it is these boys are, and I love that.

‘I love the characters they’re showing. I love the fact that they’re not seeking excuses or wanting me to make allowances for it.

‘But at some point, I need to also acknowledge the massive effort that all these guys are putting in. Radu and Ben were outstanding again.’

Spurs find themselves seventh in the Premier League table after their opening 13 games of the season.

They are five points behind north London rivals Arsenal, who currently sit in second place.

The next north London derby takes place next month as Arsenal host Spurs at the Emirates on January 15.

Arsenal beat Spurs 1-0 away from home when the sides last met in September, with Gabriel Magalhães scoring the only goal of the match.

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Tottenham are missing a number of players through injury and picked up a couple more minor issues on Sunday as Archie Gray limped out of the clash with Fulham and Dominic Solanke missed out through illness.

Spurs took the lead in north London through Brennan Johnson but Tom Cairney equalised for the visitors and the game finished 1-1.

Solanke would have been involved but was ill when he reported for duty on Sunday and was sent home.

‘Doesn’t help,’ Postecoglou said of the striker’s absence. ‘That on top of Richy [Richarlison] being out, Wilson [Odobert] being out, Mikey Moore being out.

‘It leaves us pretty thin up top and we’re trying to manage that process.’

On whether the England forward will be fit to face Bournemouth on Thursday night, the Australian said: ‘I hope so.

‘He trained yesterday, came in today but didn’t look well at all so we sent him home. It’s obviously an illness, not an injury so we just need to see how he settles down the next couple of days, but hopefully it’s nothing too significant.’

Spurs are short in attack and defence, with first choice centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven both sidelined.

On whether Romero could return against the Cherries, Postecoglou said: ‘Potentially, but he still hasn’t trained with the team. He’s getting closer but still hasn’t trained with the team.

‘Him and Micky are still working with the sports science staff, so hopefully not too far away.’

Summer signing Archie Gray came off the bench against Fulham late in the game and had to be taken off just a few minutes later.

‘He got a knock, a bit of a dead leg,’ said his manager. ‘Hopefully it’s nothing too significant.’

The Spurs boss cut a frustrated figure, but not with his players’ efforts, more the injury situation and workload his squad is facing.

‘If people don’t understand what we are dealing with at the moment and how the players are coping with it, I think it’s fairly self evident,’ he said.

‘We are going to have to have days like today where things are not running smoothly. All you can ask is for the players to give everything and I think they did that and more today.’

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Dominic Solanke is not in the Tottenham squad for their clash with Fulham on Sunday afternoon due to illness.

The 27-year-old has scored four Premier League goals so far this season and six in all competitions since his summer move from Bournemouth.

His form has seen him return to the England squad, having not played for his country since his debut in 2017, coming off the bench against Greece in October and Ireland last month.

However, he won’t be involved in north London on Sunday afternoon against the Cottages, with Sky Sports reporting that he is suffering with illness.

Manager Ange Postecoglou explained the absence, saying: ‘He came in today and he wasn’t looking the best, just under the weather.

‘So we just sent him home. Hopefully a full recovery now ahead of the next one.’

Timo Werner comes into the starting XI in his absence, with Son Heung-min, Brennan Johnson and James Maddison completing the front four.

Postecoglou is struggling with injuries at the back, with Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero all out. Fraser Forster plays in goal, with Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin at centre-back.

Dejan Kulusevski has to settle for a place on the bench despite his fine form this season, with Postecoglou managing his game time amid a busy period.

Spurs go to Bournemouth on Thursday and then host Chelsea next Sunday, with nine matches in total coming up in December.

A win over Fulham could see Tottenham climb to as high as fifth in the Premier League table if other results go their way.

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