Revenge for chaotic reverse fixture 'no motivation' for Spurs
When Tottenham travel to Stamford Bridge on Thursday, Ange Postecoglou will hope for a less incident-packed game than the reverse fixture in November.
The 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea is arguably one of the most chaotic but entertaining games of the season with five goals, three others disallowed and two red cards over nearly 100 frantic minutes.
Postecoglou, who also received a yellow card on the Spurs bench amid the mayhem, gambled on keeping a high line despite being down to nine men after Romero and Destiny Udogie were dismissed.
James Maddison and Micky Van de Ven were also injured that evening and missed lengthy periods of time.
"It is a constant evolution of overcoming challenges since then," said Postecoglou. "We had good rhythm up until that point and since then we have had challenges."
But despite many injury concerns, Spurs have 12 more points on the board than Chelsea and are almost certain to be playing European football next season.
On whether his players will feel the need to 'revenge' that heavy defeat, he added: "I have never bought into that revenge rubbish because that would suggest you need motivation other than winning games of football.
"You can understand the meaning of games to fans but players and staff should not need extra motivation. That is what you have to do every week.
"Irrespective of that, we are playing at their ground and it is a London derby so you know it is going to be a tough game."
