For good or ill the Saturday 12.30pm kick-off is always the football weekend’s agenda-setter, and in five previous starts at that time Chelsea have experienced mixed emotions this season: two wins, two draws, and a lone defeat.

The timing is tough on our opponents. While the Blues had almost a clear week to recover and prepare for this always alluring London derby, Tottenham were at home to Leipzig in the Champions League, finishing just 62-and-a-half hours before the action begins at the Bridge.

‘We could see Lucas: absolutely dead. Bergwijn: absolutely dead. Lo Celso: dead,’ Jose Mourinho lamented after their 1-0 defeat, adding that Chelsea would have watched ‘drinking sparkling water with lemon and some biscuits’ and thanking TV for choosing a Saturday lunchtime start.

As Spurs lead a pack that has closed the gap on the fourth-placed Blues (who are without a win in four matches), now would be a wonderful time, to adapt a Mourinho metaphor, to send them back downstairs.

Completing the league double over the Lilywhites for the first time since 2005/06 would also bring Chelsea’s fourth successive victory against them in all competitions – our best run since six on the spin up to January 2002.

Pride of London on the line

Spurs have won once in 33 derby visits to the Bridge, and Chelsea are leading the way in capital clashes this season, with the visitors ranked second on points-per-game.

Looking down to the Championship table, there is potential next season for the top flight to have its biggest west London quota since 2012/13. The possible new additions would be Fulham (third) and Brentford (currently fourth). The last time we played the Bees in the top tier was the 1946/47 season.

All season Frank Lampard has demanded better focus in both boxes but the frailties were evident once more on Monday against Manchester United. Again we witnessed thrilling breakaways come to nought, and Chelsea remain one of five teams not to have scored on the counter-attack on home soil this campaign.

While Manchester City are the only team to have attempted more shots on goal at home than the Londoners, fewer than a third of the Blues’ 229 efforts (75) have been on target, and just seven per cent have found the net.

In contrast, visiting teams’ crosses and set-pieces continue to find their mark: no team lets in fewer goals from open play at home than the Blues, but Aston Villa are the only one side in the top-flight to have conceded more from set-plays.

Lampard outwitted his former coach in Chelsea’s December victory at Tottenham, Mourinho’s first defeat by a previous employer in 14 reunions. Using three at the back and wing-backs, the west Londoners overloaded the hosts down the flanks and were great value for the 2-0 victory. Interestingly, Leipzig dominated Spurs’ deep-defending 4-4-2 in midweek using a similar formation and tactics to Blues’.

So long Spurs

Stripped of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, the attackers responsible for half their goals, and with Erik Lamela and Tanguy Ndombele not fit enough to start, Tottenham were summed up as ‘stodgy, negative’ against Leipzig. Their former player and coach Glenn Hoddle noted he had ‘never seen Spurs play it so long’ towards stand-in centre-forwards Lucas Moura, Dele Alli, and, later, Steven Bergwijn.

He has a point: Tottenham played 100 more long balls in Mourinho’s opening 11 games than they had in the last 11 under Mauricio Pochettino. Nor are they playing out from the back and pressing upfront as under the previous regime.

Even with a squad stretched like a blanket not big enough to cover all exposed parts on a chilly night, Mourinho will prioritise height in his team, as he always does against the bigger clubs.

Premier League goal scorers

Jamie Vardy 17Sergio Aguero 16Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 15Danny Ings 15Marcus Rashford 14Mohamed Salah 14Tammy Abraham 13

FA Cup and Champions League catch-up

Next month’s round five FA Cup visitors Liverpool are at home to West Ham in Monday evening’s live match on Sky Sports.

The Bundesliga has allowed Bayern to play their home match against bottom club Paderborn on Friday evening, providing more time to prepare for our round of 16 clash at the Bridge on Tuesday.

Champions League chase

As things now stand, the focus on European qualification has suddenly shifted from fourth/fifth in the table to fifth/sixth. Last Friday’s two-season ban on Champions League entry imposed on Manchester City by UEFA for breaching its financial regulations between 2012 and 2016 will, pending any appeal, start next season.

The Premier League will still retain the same number of qualifying places in the competition, meaning any top four slot that would have been allocated to the Citizens, who are currently second, will pass down to whoever finishes fifth in May. Should Man City win the Carabao Cup, the team finishing eighth would also claim a 2020/21 Europa League place.

VAR from foolproof

Media pundits and supporters alike have noted the jarring similarities between Harry Maguire’s unpunished kick out at Michy Batshuayi and the red shown to Son for the same action against Toni Rudiger at Tottenham before Christmas.

The incidents involved the same referee, Anthony Taylor, making the same decision – no card. But whereas in December Video Assistant Referee Paul Tierney overturned Taylor’s ruling and Son was sent off, Chris Kavanagh shared the on-pitch officiator’s take and the United defender was not penalised.

Cesar Azpilicueta, who was barged into by Fred before Kurt Zouma’s disallowed goal, has reminded us we were told referees would use the pitch-side monitor to reassess red card decisions. Clearly that has not happened.

Chelsea fans’ reactions to Monday’s events might be considered sour grapes (even though only four other clubs have had more goals overturned in the opponents’ favour than the Blues) but independent observers such as Henry Winter are also pointing out a wider truth.

A step too VAR! Giles Smith no closer to tolerating the technology

People loved the game over 100 years for the unbridled joy released by when the ball hits the back of the net, uniting players and supporters. Yet a feeling of trepidation now hangs over each goal until the restart finally confirms or annuls it. The VAR trial has also shifted the game back in favour of defenders, creating a net ‘loss’ of 21 goals: 20 awarded after video review, and 41 disallowed.

Coming up

Sixteenth-placed Bournemouth, Chelsea’s Premier League hosts next Saturday, are at Burnley (unbeaten in four since our 3-0 win in January) this weekend.

Chelsea Women are in the North-West on Sunday for a showdown with leaders Manchester City (one point ahead, having played one game more) that will be shown live on BT Sport 2 from 1.45pm.

The FA Youth Cup quarter-final between Ed Brand’s Under-18s and Millwall has been confirmed for Thursday 27 February, a 7pm kick-off at Stamford Bridge.

Happy birthday, Jimmy

Thursday was the 80th birthday of a Chelsea player rated by many who saw him glide across the field in his prime as the best ever product of the club’s Juniors system.

Jimmy Greaves made his debut against Saturday’s opposition at White Hart Lane aged 17 in August 1957, scoring the first of 124 in 157 league games for Ted Drake’s Blues. It was an astonishing and unmatched strike-rate that meant he effectively found the net four times every five games, and reached a century at the age of 20.

‘Greavsie’, a new BT Sport documentary screened this week, should help remind viewers how far today’s footballers still have to go to emulate the man who left the Bridge in 1961 and finished his career with 357 goals in 516 Football League games. His nearest rival from the modern era is Alan Shearer’s 283 (260 of them in the Premier League era).

Jimmy has suffered very poor health in recent years, so (to use Drake’s usual pre-match pep-talk) we wish him ‘all the best’ and many happy returns.

New balls, please

As the opening fixture of this round of matches, Chelsea-Tottenham will be the first to feature the third different football of the Premier League season. Nike’s ‘Tunnel Vision’ ball has identical construction to the white (autumn) and yellow (winter) Merlins used previously this campaign, but is white with black and orange graphics. For familiarisation purposes it was delivered to training grounds on Monday.

For the superstitious among you, Chelsea managed 1.9 points per game playing with the white ball from August to the end of October, falling to 1.4 with the winter one used since then. Let us hope there is light ahead with the ‘Tunnel’.

SaturdayChelsea v Tottenham 12.30pm (BT)Burnley v Bournemouth 3pmCrystal Palace v Newcastle 3pmSheffield United v Brighton 3pmSouthampton v Aston Villa 3pmLeicester v Manchester City 5.30pm (Sky)

SundayManchester United v Watford 2pmWolves v Norwich 2pmArsenal v Everton 4.30pm (Sky)

MondayLiverpool v West Ham 8pm (Sky)

Watch Matchday Live on The 5th Stand from 12.15pm on Saturday