Dubai: Chelsea will have “no problem” of beating Tottenham Hotspur away on Wednesday to give themselves “a big chance” of winning the Premier League title this season, according to former Blues defender Dan Petrescu.
“It’s not if they beat Spurs, they will, for sure,” said the 49-year-old Romanian, who is currently in charge of Dubai’s Al Nasr.
“Why? because they’ve won the last 13 matches and they are on a good run,” he added of their current form, where they are one win away from equaling Arsenal’s 2002 record of most consecutive wins (14).
“I remember even when I was there we always used to beat Tottenham, so this is no problem,” he added.
And he’s right, Spurs have only beaten Chelsea four times in 49 Premier League games and Chelsea have recorded more wins and scored more goals against Spurs than any other Premier League opponent.
“They are favourites for sure, in the Premier League you never know, but if they beat Spurs they will have a big chance,” added Petrescu, who made over 150 appearances for Chelsea between 1995 and 2000, winning the 1997 FA Cup and a League Cup, Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup and Uefa Super Cup treble, in 1998.
He went on to praise Blues boss Antonio Conte for turning things around at Stamford Bridge, and even said he had been granted special access to observe the Italian’s training sessions, when Conte was at Juventus three years ago.
“I think he’s a very good coach, everywhere he’s been he’s showed that from Juventus to the Italian national team.
“He knows how to motivate the players who didn’t perform last season like Eden Hazard and Diego Costa,” he said in reference to Chelsea finishing 10th last term, after Jose Mourinho was sacked halfway through the season and replaced by Guus Hiddink.
“But this team also won the league two years ago [in 2014/15] so they know how to win," he added. “I think Conte has been working a lot with the defence, I know how he works because I was there for one week to watch his training sessions at Juventus, and that’s the main secret to his success, the way he works with the defence.”
