This is an ancient enmity with blood first drawn at White Hart Lane on the last day of the 1909/10 season. Ticket prices were raised in anticipation of interest as Chelsea needed a win to retain Division One status and a band played ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the teams entered the field.

There was no chance of ‘auld acquaintance’ being forgot, though, when Spurs’ sharpshooter Percy Humphreys scored past Jack Whitley. Humphreys had worn royal blue until December, but that winner consigned his former team-mates to the drop.

Since 1992/93 Chelsea have largely claimed the spoils at Tottenham’s various homes with 14 victories – currently the second most by any visiting side behind Man United’s 15. In fact, the Londoners have won all three Premier League fixtures at the current Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by an aggregate of six goals to nil.

Last season the Blues won this fixture 3-0, the first instalment of a league double against our north London rivals delivered by Thiago Silva, N’Golo Kante and, in the last minute, Antonio Rudiger. That also recorded a sixth successive top-flight derby victory on the road for the first time in our history.

As a result, Chelsea are aiming to become only the third side to record a fourth consecutive league success away to the Lilywhites after Arsenal (four) 1952-55 and Manchester United (six in a row) 2001-07.

Landing the League Cup in 2015

The Carabao Cup final will be played to a conclusion at Wembley after this match on Sunday. The name of either Newcastle or Manchester United will be inscribed on the trip-handled trophy, which Chelsea missed out on last season after a penalty shoot-out with Liverpool.

1 March will be the eighth anniversary of our eighth – and most recent – success in the competition, which came against Sunday’s hosts, Tottenham, in 2015. The first major honour of Jose Mourinho’s second spell at Chelsea was comfortably secured thanks to shots past Hugo Lloris from John Terry and Diego Costa either side of the break. It was the 15th trophy of Terry’s career.

Capital gains

On Sunday Chelsea could become the first London club to record 150 victories in Premier League derby fixtures.

The Blues have the highest win rate in Premier League London derbies (52.6 per cent), recording 149 in total. The west Londoners’ average take of 1.5 points per derby fixture this season also compares favourably to the 1.43 earned in the league season as a whole.

Premier League London derbies 1992-2023