Winds of change for Chelsea

Chelsea have their eyes on the top of the table but standing in their way are a familiar London rival, Tottenham.

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 23: Fernando Torres of Chelsea celebrates after scoring his first goal for the club and his team's third during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham UShow more

Rewind to February. In the wake of Fernando Torres' disappointing debut for Chelsea, the defending champions languish 13 points behind league leaders Manchester United. Their battle seems a cross-town rivalry with Tottenham Hotspur for fourth place.

Fast forward to today and Chelsea have Spurs on their minds again, but for different reasons.

A derby win against the men from White Hart Lane would serve a dual purpose, making a second successive season in the Champions League extremely unlikely for Harry Redknapp's team and putting them on United's coat tails.

That 13-point deficit would be down to three. Pressure would be applied on United ahead of their double header with Arsenal tomorrow and then Chelsea. It would also allow Chelsea to complete a remarkable recovery from a truly bleak midwinter. This is a team with an ability to acquire momentum when the sun starts to shine.

Chelsea's capacity to finish seasons strongly was shown last year, when their final eight fixtures produced seven wins. The anomaly was a 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane, when they were blown away by an emerging phenomenon, Hurricane Bale.

Yet among two multi-talented squads, the most significant absentee may prove to be an often overlooked figure. Benoit Assou-Ekotto's hamstring problem should mean that, in a welcome development for Chelsea, Gareth Bale has to be relocated to left-back.

As Salomon Kalou noted: "If he does go to left-back and attacks, then there is a lot of space behind him. It is hard to do both."

While Spurs have not won at Stamford Bridge since 1990, the PFA Player of the Year and his colleagues have displayed a fondness for rousing themselves for the big occasion. One title push has already been derailed by Tottenham's gung-ho spirit, with Arsenal held 3-3 10 days ago.

Such stages seem to suit Rafael van der Vaart and co. The loss of fourth place, however, can be traced to Chelsea's improvement and Spurs' failings in lesser matches. Their last five games against teams currently in the bottom half of the table - West Bromwich Albion, Wigan, West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Blackpool - have only produced four points.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have regained their ruthlessness. "Mentally we have been strong, and it is also because we have players back to their best," Kalou said.

There were times this season when Carlo Ancelotti appeared to have had too few options, others when too many were presenting a case to start. This belongs in the latter category, as Michael Essien, Ramires and Alex are all fit again.

The headline switch, however, would be if Torres, having ended his 14-game, 732-minute wait for a goal, joined or displaced Didier Drogba in attack. The likelihood is that he won't. Having manoeuvred themselves back into a position of some potential, it would amount to a gamble to jeopardise it, even for the sake of integrating a £50 million (Dh306,139m) signing.

The probability is Ancelotti is being mischievous in suggesting he might disrupt a winning formula.

It is one they rediscovered too late. "We had the bad time in November and December, which was longer than usual," Kalou said. "Although we know we can't make a difference if Man United win all their games, we are still fighting."

It has become Redknapp's mantra that if Tottenham can't secure a return to the Champions League this season, they will try again next year. In the broader picture, he is correct, but his counterpart at Chelsea rarely sees things that way, instead focusing on immediate goals rather than staring into the distant future.

Once again, it is all about the here and now.

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