With the chance to consolidate their hold on fourth place in the Premier League table, Tottenham Hotspur welcome Chelsea to North London for a capital derby on Sunday afternoon.

The Lilywhites ran out 2-0 winners over West Ham United in their most recent contest, while the Blues’ misfortune continued in a 1-0 home defeat to Southampton.

While former Chelsea coach Antonio Conte is unlikely to take the reins against his former club as he continues to recover from gallbladder surgery, Cristian Stellini’s perfect record in charge remains intact – going three for three during the visit of West Ham last weekend.

The only noteworthy event of a dull opening 45 was West Ham escaping another controversial handball penalty claim – Spurs and Chelsea can empathise with each other there – but ‘Second Half FC’ came to the fore as Emerson Royal and Son Heung-min sent Spurs into the Champions League spots.

With fifth-placed Newcastle United and third-placed Manchester United doing battle in the EFL Cup final later on Sunday, this weekend’s London derby is a magnificent opportunity for Spurs to steer clear of the Magpies and reduce the gap to the Red Devils – who will subsequently have a game in hand – to just four points.

The main event of the Premier League (PL) weekend takes place in North London, as Tottenham welcome Chelsea. This is a fixture that has haunted Spurs down the years, winning just seven of 61 H2Hs in the PL era (D21, L33), only suffering more defeats in the competition’s history to Manchester United (39). It’s not a record that’s on an upswing either, with Spurs winning just one of the last 12 H2Hs in all competitions (D2, L9).

Tottenham can at least boast an 11-point lead over Chelsea in the PL, although they remain without ex-Blues boss Antonio Conte on the touchline as he recovers from surgery in Italy. That may not be disastrous news though, with assistant manager Cristian Stellini winning all three of his games as the main man in the dugout this term. Spurs may need that pristine record to continue, as with Newcastle not in PL action this weekend, they can open up a four-point gap to the Magpies inside the top-four.

Finding the net remains Chelsea’s biggest issue, with their last ten games in all competitions seeing them score just four times. The Blues have scored an average of two goals-per-game from their last three PL visits to Tottenham though (W3), a record that may provide inspiration to end an ongoing seven-match winless run on the road in the PL – failing to win an eighth would be their worst such streak since going 16 without victory between April 2000 and March 2001.

Key battle: Tottenham talisman Harry Kane has nine goal contributions (G7, A2) against Chelsea across 21 H2H meetings (W6, D4, L11) while picking up a career-high eight yellow cards against the Blues. He’ll likely be shepherded by Thiago Silva, who has lost just one of eight clashes with Spurs (W4, D3), also getting on the scoresheet twice.

Hot streak: Tottenham are the only PL side yet to draw a home game this season (W8, L4).

Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:

LLWWLW

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

WWWLLW

Chelsea Premier League form:

LWDDDL

Chelsea form (all competitions):

WDDDLL

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Forster; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Emerson, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Davies; Kulusevski, Kane, Son

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Kepa; James, Silva, Badiashile, Chilwell; Kovacic, Fernandez; Mudryk, Felix, Sterling; Havertz

Tottenham came up against an incredibly passive West Ham team last weekend, which will not be the case against Chelsea’s wealth of attacking options, even if Potter’s side have been nothing short of woeful in recent weeks.

Even with Stellini being able to post three wins from three games in charge so far, Spurs remain a highly unpredictable team, and with Chelsea being handed a wealth of fitness boosts ahead of Sunday’s game, we can envisage Potter’s men travelling back to Stamford Bridge with a share of the spoils – not that it will do much to improve the Englishman’s standing with the fans.