It was probably funny at the time.Chelsea posted a tweet giving fans a look at the league table on November 11th.That date is significant. Chelsea had beaten Crystal Palace that day, while Spurs, in Mauricio Pochettino’s last league game as manager, laboured to a 1-1 draw with Sheffield United.The win for the Blues moved them into third; Spurs dropped to 14th. Where, one might ask, did the league table that Chelsea posted end? At 14th.
In the social media “banter eraâ€, it was a classic tweet, a gag that will have had Spurs fans raging and Blues fans laughing. Engagements were through the roof; Chelsea have received over 26,000 likes for the post and more than 4,000 retweets at the time of writing.
Now, though, it looks a little bit silly.
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Since that game against Palace, the Blues have lost to Manchester City, West Ham United, Everton and, most recently, AFC Bournemouth. Their only league win since came over Aston Villa.
Spurs, meanwhile, sacked Pochettino, appointed Jose Mourinho and have beaten West Ham, Bournemouth, Burnley and Wolves. Their only league defeat since has come to Manchester United.
The two sides meet this weekend in a mouthwatering London derby.
Mourinho and Frank Lampard will renew acquaintances and there is the carrot of climbing into the top four at stake. If Spurs win, they will leapfrog their bitter rivals.
It feels a far cry from that nondescript November day, the one which marked the end of Pochettino’s reign and the start of Mourinho’s and saw the Chelsea admin make a pretty poor mistake.
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But the fact is that, since then, Chelsea have been on a terrible run of form whereas Spurs have been roundly excellent.
It remains to be seen if, on Sunday, Spurs will be posting a look at the top five, having shunted the Blues down the table.
One has to believe that they won’t; as we’ve seen, it can backfire all too easily.
Meanwhile, Spurs are set to block one man’s move to West Ham.Â