LONDON (AP) – If Antonio Conte wants a reliable indicator of how far his Tottenham team has come since last season, he couldn’t ask for a better test than tonight’s trip to Chelsea.
Tottenham lost four times in four meetings last season against Conte’s former club, so a win at Stamford Bridge would send a message that Spurs have taken a big step forward after a first full offseason under the Italian.
It is the first meeting of the season between two of the “Big Six” teams, with both hoping to show they are ready to join champion Manchester City and Liverpool in what has been a two-horse race for the title in recent years.
“This game will be important to make the right evaluation about our improvement,” Conte said on Friday.
“I think this game will be very important to us whether we win, lose or draw and then we have to be good to make the right evaluation.
“Last season we played three games (against Chelsea) after only two months since I arrived.
Now we have seven months plus one month of preseason. We implemented the work and as a team we are better.”
Tottenham certainly looked good in its season opener against Southampton, when it came from a goal down to win 4-1. And that was without any of its six offseason signings starting the game.
Brazil forward Richarlison – who joined from Everton – is available after serving a one-game suspension, although he could find it difficult to break into Conte’s starting lineup.
Dejan Kulusevski had a goal and an assist against Southampton, so the Sweden international is likely to remain a part of Tottenham’s attacking trio, alongside Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.
Conte led Chelsea to the 2017 Premier League title and managed to steer Tottenham to a fourth-place finish last season – one spot behind Chelsea – after taking over the north London club in November when the team was ninth in the table.
