Mauricio Pochettino name two Chelsea players he considers key for Tottenham match

Mauricio Pochettino reveals two Chelsea stars he considers essential for Tottenham match

Peter Crouch and Paul Merson have named two Chelsea players who Mauricio Pochettino must start against Tottenham. Ange Postecoglou will welcome the Blues to north London on Monday night in what is expected to be a blockbuster Premier League clash.

Chelsea head into the tie off the back of a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup, meanwhile the Lilywhites, who have had an extra couple of days rest, will be hoping to extend their four-game winning streak following a 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace last weekend.

The west Londoners will be desperate to end Spurs’ unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign, but it could be a difficult task. In order to stand a chance against Postecoglou’s side, Crouch has urged Pochettino to start Cole Palmer.

“I was at Chelsea last week against Brentford and they were poor,” said the former Liverpool striker on The Peter Crouch podcast. “They were decent first half, and I thought Cole Palmer was really impressive. I really like him as a player.

“But I thought the rest… Raheem Sterling had some cutting edge, but they are short in a lot of areas I think. It was disappointing. Brentford deserved to win I think. They didn’t play great first-half, but they soaked it up and hit them on the break.”

Then, speaking on Sky Sports, Merson identified Raheem Sterling as a potential threat to Spurs. The former Arsenal midfielder said: “Then you’ve got Raheem Sterling on the wing. He was brilliant against Arsenal and if he can reach that level again, he’ll cause Spurs problems on the break.”

Sterling and Palmer, who cost almost £100million between them alone, were both signed as part of Todd Boehly’s eye-watering revamp at Chelsea. Ahead of the London derby on Monday night, Postecoglou was quizzed on the Blues’ spending habits and whether he’d like to spend that amount of money on new signings.

“Not necessarily,” he said. “I’ve always said I’ve never felt it is about just spending money. That’s been proved time and time again. If you get it all right then you’ve got a pretty strong case, but there’s always a limit to every team.

“You can’t have 24 world-class players. That will never work. It’s been proven that it doesn’t work. It’s about having a squad that’s balanced, guys that are committed to a cause.

“Having guys that maybe aren’t going to play every game, but every time they play they are going to make a huge impact for you because they buy into what you are trying to build.

“Just spending endless money to get the best players has been proven that it is not the answer,” Postecoglou added. “The answer is to get the right chemistry in your team. I don’t think you can do that if you just get the 24 best players in the world. That’s a headache I definitely don’t want.”