5. Wembley hoodoo
Like it or not, Tottenham fans have to accept that White Hart Lane lies in pile of rubble. Wembley won’t be Spurs’ home forever, but the club need to make the best of it for the 2017-18 campaign.
Pochettino made it clear in his weekly press conference that he won’t accept playing at a neutral ground as an excuse. More importantly, his players will be keen to put in a good performance to stop all of the questions they face about playing at Wembley on a weekly basis. There’s no better way to silence those pundits than by hammering the defending Premier League champions.
It’s also important to remember that Tottenham will be buoyed by 70,000 home supporters. The Lane was a magical place for the club, but it didn’t provide access to nearly that many fans. There will literally be thousands of Spurs fans at the match who will be realizing their dreams of being a season ticket holder for the first time. That should make for a raucous atmosphere under the Arch.
Today will be a first step towards Spurs truly making Wembley their temporary home. The time for excuses is over. The players will be desperate to knock off Chelsea and put questions about Wembley to bed. That doesn’t bode well for the Blues.