Spurs vs Chelsea: Kane, Costa and a tale of two clubs

Another weekend of Premier League action lies ahead and while Manchester United's trip to Leicester pits first against second and offers Jamie Vardy the chance to break Ruud van Nistelrooy's scoring record, the most intriguing fixture of the weekend takes place further south as struggling Chelsea take on Spurs.

Everyone is familiar with Chelsea's travails this season: they currently lie 15th in the table, with exactly half the points of league leaders Leicester.

But after back-to-back wins against Norwich and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League, some believe the Blues may have turned a corner.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Even if they have they will face a tough test against Spurs, who have been stealthily climbing the table and now lie fifth in the Premier League, two points behind Arsenal and Man City.

Mauricio Pochettino's team have not lost in the Premier League since the opening day of the season, while Harry Kane, who had a slow start to the campaign, has scored nine goals in six games, netting in each of them.

While Kane is the face of the Spurs resurgence his opposite number at Chelea, Diego Costa, appears to symbolise the decline of Chelsea.

Kane and Costa were the two strikers selected by their peers in the PFA team of the season last year, but they and their clubs now appear to be on very different trajectories, says Richard Jolly of ESPN.

Kane has come "to epitomise Pochettino's team, leading from the front with boundless enthusiasm", says Jolly. "Like Kane, Costa has personified his team but in a very different way. Rather than naive optimism, he has offered cynicism. Bad tempered, losing sight of ultimate objectives to pursue petty battles."

Costa appears unhappy and is now being tipped to leave Chelsea, and there have been rumours that the Blues want to sign Kane to replace him.

That is an unlikely prospect, reports the London Evening Standard. Unlike the Spanish striker, Kane is happy and settled at a club that believes it has a genuine chance of silverware in the near future.

The last time these two sides met in the league, on New Year's Day, now seems like a portent of the future. Costa opened the scoring for the Blues, but Spurs roared back and Kane scored a hat-trick as Spurs stunned their London rivals 5-3.

It says much about the two sides' merits this term that a repeat scoreline would not come as a huge surprise.

Chelsea are also likely to be without John Terry for Sunday's clash after their talismanic defender was carried off against Tel Aviv in midweek.

Spurs will also be missing key personnel as young midfielder Dele Alli is suspended.