Roberto De Zerbi revealed he intends to use Tottenham's poor record against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as motivation ahead of this weekend's Premier League clash.
De Zerbi: Tottenham's Stamford Bridge woes to be used as motivation
Tottenham have not won at Stamford Bridge since 2017-18, but Roberto De Zerbi is hoping to flip the script against Chelsea on Saturday.
Spurs earned their first league win of the campaign on Monday by beating Coventry City 3-1, with James Maddison, Omar Marmoush and Ben Davies all on target for the hosts.
But since the start of last season, only twice have they won consecutive league matches (August 2025 and May 2026), with a trip to a venue they have struggled at up next.
Spurs have won just one of their last 36 league visits to Stamford Bridge (D11 L24), a 3-1 victory in 2017-18 under Mauricio Pochettino. They have only picked up two points in eight visits since then (D2 L6).
In addition, they have lost each of their last six London derbies in the Premier League. In their entire league history, they have never lost seven such games in a row.
Chelsea have also won each of their last six top-flight matches against Spurs, their joint-longest-ever winning league run against their London rivals (also six between January 2000 and March 2002).
De Zerbi, however, believes his team have enough qualities to end their dismal run at Stamford Bridge, though he acknowledged Xabi Alonso's Chelsea pose a difficult test.
"I think it's not just this negative record; there are many, many negative records, but for me, it's one more motivation for the players," De Zerbi told reporters.
"I want this negative record to give us more motivation and more mentality, more energy to win a game and play well, because we have enough qualities to win this game.
"It's against a very good team, a very good coach, and they have a clear style of play with great players.
"But also, the Tottenham players are very good; the level of the players is high. We have to show together as a team as well as individuals."
The Chelsea versus Spurs rivalry has seen many heated clashes over the years, none more so than the "Battle of the Bridge" back in 2017, which ended with a 2-2 draw.
Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard cancelled out goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to hand Leicester City the Premier League title, but that was from the full story.
Several flashpoints popped up throughout the contest, most notably Danny Rose's late challenge on Willian, which saw Mousa Dembele receive a six-match suspension for violent conduct following an altercation with Diego Costa.
And when asked about managing discipline at Stamford Bridge after Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off against Manchester United for a headbutt, De Zerbi responded: "The balance is always difficult to fix – a balance between energy, spirit, mentality.
"If you have confidence in the players, you leave the players to decide their behaviour, to decide the reaction.
"For sure, I prefer one 'too strong' reaction to one player without blood, without reaction."
