Chelsea vs Spurs kicks off at Stamford Bridge at 19:30 Riyadh time on Saturday, and the line-ups are in: Chelsea are without top scorer João Pedro and goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, while Tottenham bring in Mathys Tel and Mateus Fernandes. Xabi Alonso's fourth-placed side have won the last six Premier League meetings; Roberto De Zerbi's Spurs arrive in the bottom three, chasing only their second league win of the season.
- Fixture
- Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League 2026-27
- Score
- Live from 19:30 AST (see live scores below)
- Venue
- Stamford Bridge, London
- Kickoff
- Sat 24 Oct 2026, 19:30 AST (17:30 BST / 16:30 GMT / 12:30 ET)
- Officials
- Referee Chris Kavanagh; VAR John Brooks
Key points
- Chelsea are fourth on 13 points from seven games; Tottenham are 18th on 6 points after Fulham's win at Coventry earlier on Saturday.
- Chelsea have won the last six Premier League meetings, a run that began in February 2023, equalling their longest league winning streak against Spurs.
- João Pedro (five league goals, three assists) is left out of the squad (he missed games with a knee injury in September); Geovany Quenda starts in his place.
- Mike Penders starts in goal after Emiliano Martínez had surgery on a jaw injury suffered at Everton.
- Spurs have won only one of their last 36 league visits to Stamford Bridge, a 3-1 win in the 2017-18 season.
Chelsea vs Spurs line-ups: who starts
Chelsea: Penders; Acheampong, Lacroix, Colwill, Hato; Henderson, Caicedo; Quenda, Rogers, Pedro Neto; Palmer. Subs: Sharman-Lowe, Palestra, Fofana, Barco, Welbeck, Gusto, Nicoll-Jazuli, Estêvão, Lavia.
Tottenham: Kinský; Gray, Van Hecke, Van de Ven (captain), Robertson; Fernandes, Tonali; Kudus, Maddison, Tel; Marmoush. Subs: Dúbravka, Senesi, Gallagher, Solanke, Kulusevski, Porro, Davies, Olusesi, Williams-Barnett.
Chelsea's two changes from the 2-0 win at Everton both come in key positions. João Pedro played the full 90 minutes at Everton last weekend, but he is not in the squad. The Independent notes that a knee injury kept the Brazilian out against Brentford before the September international break and forced him to withdraw from Brazil duty; Alonso was expected to explain today's absence around kickoff. Alonso did not pick Danny Welbeck, the obvious like-for-like striker, and instead chose the young winger Quenda, which suggests Cole Palmer or Morgan Rogers will play as the most advanced attacker. In goal, Penders replaces Martínez, who was stretchered off after a collision with Jarrad Branthwaite and later had jaw surgery. Alonso said on Friday that the Argentine would be out "a few weeks", and of Penders: "He is ready."
Spurs also make two changes from Monday's 3-1 win over Coventry. Tel starts on the left for the first time since September's draw at Nottingham Forest, and Fernandes, the £85 million summer signing from West Ham, returns to midfield alongside Sandro Tonali, according to the club and Football.London. Dominic Solanke drops to the bench and Tosin Adarabioyo, who came off against Coventry, misses the game against his old club. Pedro Porro is back in the squad on the bench after a hamstring injury picked up against Aston Villa on 19 September, so Archie Gray stays at right-back.
Team news: who is missing
Chelsea are without João Pedro, Martínez, Pep Chavarría and Emmanuel Emegha, the summer signing who has not yet played for the club. Malo Gusto is back on the bench after missing the Everton game. Tottenham's absentees, as listed by De Zerbi and the club's official team news, are Lucas Bergvall, Savio and Destiny Udogie, while Rodrigo Bentancur serves the second game of a three-match ban for his red card at Old Trafford. James Maddison starts despite missing the first three days of training this week, and Dejan Kulusevski is among the substitutes again after his first appearance in 17 months against Coventry.
Form and the table
The table explains why this derby looks lopsided on paper. Chelsea have recovered from a shaky run before the October international break with a 5-1 win over Bournemouth and the win at Everton, where Pedro Neto scored twice and Chelsea kept their first Premier League clean sheet in 23 games. A third straight league win would be their first such run since January and February. Because Manchester City and Arsenal both moved to 21 points on Saturday (City despite losing 2-1 at Aston Villa, Arsenal by beating Everton 2-0), Chelsea cannot change position tonight; they are playing to stay in touch with the top two.
For Tottenham the maths is much more urgent. The Guardian calculates that a draw would lift them to 15th and a win to 12th, out of a bottom three that also includes Coventry and Sunderland. Spurs are still winless away from home in the league this season. Before the Coventry win they were dominant for long spells against Manchester United, a club whose own troubles we covered in our story on Unai Emery as a possible United target, and the hope inside the club is that one result can change the mood of a season.
The Stamford Bridge record
Few fixtures in English football carry a record this one-sided. According to figures published by beIN Sports, Spurs have won one of their last 36 league visits to Stamford Bridge, drawing 11 and losing 24, and have taken only two points there since that 3-1 win in 2017-18. BBC Sport puts it more starkly: one win in 41 visits in all competitions since 1990. Overall, the Guardian counts 83 Chelsea wins to Tottenham's 55 in the history of the fixture.
De Zerbi refused to treat that as a burden. "I want this negative record to give us more motivation and more mentality, more energy to win a game and play a good game," he told reporters on Friday. "We have enough qualities to win this game." Asked how he wanted his players to handle a heated derby after Bentancur's headbutt at Old Trafford, he said he trusted them to judge their own reactions and would prefer "one 'too strong' reaction, than one player without blood, without reaction."
Alonso, getting his first taste of the rivalry as Chelsea manager, struck a calmer note. "Every derby is special," he said, adding that Chelsea "need to have good emotional control as well because there is a lot of passion and commitment from both sides."
What to watch
The key tactical question is how Chelsea's attack works without a recognised number nine. De Zerbi singled out the Palmer, Rogers and João Pedro trio before the game, noting they had 11 league goals and three assists between them; with one of the three missing, much depends on whether Palmer drifting centrally can pull Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke out of shape. At the other end, Penders could be tested early if Spurs press his distribution, and Mohammed Kudus and Tel offer pace in behind Chelsea's full-backs. Fernandes and Tonali must also cope with Moisés Caicedo, who wears the captain's armband today, and Jordan Henderson in midfield.
For readers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, the derby kicks off at 19:30 and should finish around 21:20 Riyadh time. UK clocks go back an hour overnight, so from Sunday English matches start one hour later in Riyadh time than they did this week; our match kickoff time converter does the maths for any fixture. Follow the score as it happens on our live scores and fixtures page, and for more Premier League pressure stories, see Como's 4-1 win over Manchester United.
This article was written before kickoff from the confirmed team sheets. Our analysis is editorial opinion, not a prediction to bet on. WorldScope does not promote gambling.
Sources
- Tottenham Hotspur: Confirmed line-ups, Chelsea vs Spurs (official club site)
- Chelsea FC: Xabi Alonso confirms Chelsea team news for Tottenham (official club site)
- Tottenham Hotspur: Team news, Porro back, four out of Chelsea clash
- BBC Sport: De Zerbi on injuries, 'negative records' and Chelsea
- The Guardian: Chelsea v Tottenham, Premier League live
- The Independent: João Pedro out of Chelsea team to face Tottenham
- beIN Sports: Alonso keen for Chelsea to manage emotions of rivalry against Spurs
- Football.London: Tottenham confirmed team vs Chelsea
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Related: Chelsea vs Spurs Result: Tottenham Win 2-0 at Stamford Bridge | El Clásico Preview: Barcelona vs Real Madrid
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