Ange Postecoglou saluted an "outstanding effort" by Tottenham after they came from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1.
Spurs scored four second-half goals as they got back to winning ways in the Premier League, following last weekend's 1-0 defeat at lowly Crystal Palace.
Postecoglou's side notched up an impressive 2-1 victory over Manchester City in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, but fell behind against Villa to Morgan Rogers' first-half effort.
Nevertheless, the hosts responded well after the break. Dominic Solanke scored twice, while Brennan Johnson and James Maddison were also on target in what was eventually a commanding victory.
And Postecoglou by the positive manner in which his players have responded to their setback at Selhurst Park.
"Seven days is a long time in football," he said. "Seven days ago, I was a grumpy old so and so. We have to stay true to the course we're on. We made sure not to feel sorry for ourselves and get back to the team we want to be.
"The first half was a bit of an arm wrestle. [Villa] have a consistent level of performance. We have other gears in us, which we showed in the second half. After the performance in midweek, I thought it was an outstanding effort.
"I felt the momentum was going our way, we knew we would finish strong and if we upped it a couple of gears like we can, we knew we would be hard to stop."
The head coach also paid tribute to Solanke, who became the first Spurs player to score at least four goals in his first eight Premier League appearances for the club since Rafael van der Vaart in 2010-11.
"The amount of work the guy did for us over the week - goals are great, but his capacity to do everything he can for the team in every area - I can't speak highly enough of him," Postecoglou added.
"We stuck with it," Solanke told Sky Sports. "A few times this season, we've gone a goal down. Against Palace, we didn't react in the right way, but today we did.
"We always believe we can score many goals. It all came together today in the second half. We had to adapt to the way they were playing. At half-time, we had time to regroup and discuss what we had to do.
"We've had some great games, but haven't managed to do it the whole season, but we think we're capable of it."
The Numbers Game: Can Tottenham get back on track against Chelsea?
When Brennan Johnson tucked in Tottenham's fourth in their demolition of Manchester City a couple of weeks ago, few would have expected the pressure would soon be mounting on Ange Postecoglou.
Yet after Thursday's tame performance in a 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth, the Australian faced jeers from a section of the travelling Spurs fans at the Vitality Stadium.
Spurs are now winless in their last three games in all competitions, having drawn against Roma in the Europa League and then Fulham in the Premier League. Before that stunning win at Man City, Tottenham also slipped to a 2-1 home loss to Ipswich Town.
Tottenham are back at home on Sunday, but they will go up against one of the Premier League's form teams.
Enzo Maresca declared that "Chelsea are back" after a 5-1 win at bottom-of-the-league Southampton moved the Blues into second on Wednesday, seven points behind leaders Liverpool.
Will Chelsea make it four top-flight wins on the spin, or can Spurs get back on track?
What's expected?
Chelsea are made the favourites by the Opta supercomputer, though the model expects a hard-fought encounter.
The Blues are given a win probability of 43.2%, while Tottenham came out on top in 32.7% of the data-led simulations. There is a 24.1% chance of a draw.
Tottenham have won just one of their last 11 Premier League games against Chelsea (D2 L8), picking up a 2-0 home win in February 2023.
After a run of just two wins in 13 Premier League away games against Tottenham between 2006 and 2018 (D5 L6), Chelsea have won four of their last five visits to Spurs (L1).
Spurs were unbeaten in their first four Premier League London derbies under Postecoglou (W2 D2), but have lost seven of their last 13 (W4 D2). Five of their six London derby wins under the former Celtic boss have been at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, however.
Chelsea have won 35 Premier League games and scored 116 Premier League goals against Tottenham, more than they have against any other opponent. It’s also the most goals Spurs have conceded against a side, while they have only lost more times to Manchester United (39).
The Blues have also won five of their seven games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in all competitions (D1 L1), the most wins any visiting side has picked up at the ground since Spurs moved there in 2019.
Hot and cold
Spurs' inconsistency this season is why they are 10th heading into the weekend. Despite the unrest from some fans, Postecoglou will surely point to the fact that they are only three points off fifth-place Brighton.
Postecoglou did perhaps not help himself by insisting he always wins a trophy in his second season at a club, but Spurs are still in the EFL Cup and are well placed in the Europa League. A top-four finish in the Premier League is unlikely but is far from out of sight.
Only two teams - Chelsea (31) and Liverpool (29) - have scored more Premier League goals than Spurs this season, but their issues have come at the other end of the pitch, by and large.
Tottenham have kept just one clean sheet in their last 22 Premier League home games (4-0 vs Everton this season), a run which started with a 4-1 loss against Chelsea last November. Indeed, since the start of November 2023, no side currently in England’s top four tiers have recorded fewer home league shutouts than Spurs.
Spurs have lost seven of their last 11 Premier League away games (W3 D1), while they have not won on the road when conceding first in the competition since a 5-2 win at Burnley in September 2023 (D2 L8 since).
Postecoglou will likely be glad to be back on home turf this time out. That being said, they have taken just one point from their last two top-flight matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But if the fans can get behind them, then Spurs have a great weapon in their arsenal: their pressing.
Spurs have forced 142 high turnovers in the league this term, more than any other team. However, only two of those have resulted in a goal.
Maresca's magic touch
In all competitions, Chelsea have scored 57 goals in 22 games this season, which is already seven more than they scored in 2022-23 (50 in 50 games). Their current goals-per-game ratio of 2.6 is their best in a single season in their entire history.
Goals have come from across their squad, too. The Blues have had 10 different goalscorers in the top tier.
Cole Palmer leads the way with nine, while the in-form Nicolas Jackson has eight. Noni Madueke has netted five times and Enzo Fernandez, who has also proved a creative force, providing six assists in his last five league games, has scored twice.
Meanwhile, only Erling Haaland (17) and Mohamed Salah (15) have scored more goals in all competitions among Premier League players this season than Christopher Nkunku (12) – the Frenchman has now found the net in eight of his last nine starts, scoring 11 times.
Chelsea are not only the league's leading scorers, they have also created the highest expected goals (xG) total at 29.8.
They have had 213 shots, the fifth-highest tally in the competition. Their xG per shot comes out at 0.13, which means that, on average, each of their attempts has a 13% chance of going in.
Only Liverpool (57) have had more big chances than the Blues (51), meanwhile, and given they are going up against such a fragile defence, Maresca's attackers should be licking their lips.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tottenham - Brennan Johnson
Johnson has scored three goals across his last five home appearances in the Premier League, more than across his previous 24 outings at home in the competition for Spurs and Nottingham Forest (two goals).
Chelsea - Nicolas Jackson
Jackson has scored four goals in his two Premier League games against Spurs, netting a hat-trick in the corresponding fixture last season.
No rest for influential Raphinha, says Barcelona boss Flick
Hansi Flick is unlikely to rest Raphinha for Barcelona's LaLiga match at Real Betis on Saturday.
Flick opted to rest LaLiga top-scorer Robert Lewandowski, who had started 20 straight matches in all competitions, for Barcelona's 5-1 victory at Mallorca in midweek.
Raphinha scored twice in that match, taking his tally of LaLiga goal contributions for the season to 17, a joint-league high alongside Lewandowski.
The former Leeds United attacker has been crucial to Barca's form under Flick, and the former Germany coach claimed Raphinha is a player he cannot afford to rotate.
Flick told reporters: "We need Rapha. When he is available, he will play.
"If he's ready for 90 minutes, then he'll play 90 minutes. So is Lewandowski, who will also play tomorrow."
Barca, who top the LaLiga standings with 37 points, snapped a three-game winless run in the league with the victory over Mallorca.
The Blaugrana will be looking to continue their momentum and face 10th-placed Betis, who are winless in their last four league matches.
"Betis are a very good team, with very experienced players. They are always capable of pressing high up the pitch, that's their style and we have to be careful," Flick said.
"They know how to play and we have to be focused. Manuel [Pellegrini] is a very experienced coach, his teams always play very good football.
"His style is very good, his teams like to have the ball. It's not easy for opponents to play against him."
Betis coach Pellegrini is set to take charge of his 500th game in LaLiga.
The Chilean will become the eighth coach to hit that milestone in the competition.
His teams have scored 762 goals, conceding 592. Pellegrini has won 239 matches, losing 138 and drawing 122.
Across his LaLiga coaching tenure, Pellegrini has recorded a 47.9% win ratio. His best win percentage came at Real Madrid, where he won 81.6% of his matches (31 wins out of 38 games).
However, he has lost 19 LaLiga matches against Barca, suffering more defeats against them than he has any other club.
Motta handed injury boost with Vlahovic available for Bologna clash
Dusan Vlahovic will be available for Juventus' Serie A clash against Bologna on Saturday, said Thiago Motta, before facing his former employers for the first time.
Vlahovic has missed Juventus' last three games in all competitions after picking up a muscle problem in his left thigh during November's international break.
He is Juventus' top scorer in Serie A this season with six goals, and he will be keen to add to that total against one of his favoured opponents in the Italian top-flight.
The Serbian has scored six goals against Bologna in 10 appearances for former club Fiorentina and Juventus, only scoring more against Cagliari (seven).
"Dusan will be in the group tomorrow. He has trained with the team this week," Motta told a press conference on Friday.
"We are happy with his return, that he can do what he likes. It's his job to go on the pitch and play football.
"Tomorrow there will be Dusan and there will also be (midfielder Vasilije) Adzic, and (defender Nicolo) Savona will also return, who was missing from the last match."
Motta, however, will be without Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Nico Gonzalez, Douglas Luiz, Arkadiusz Milik and Weston McKennie for Saturday's encounter.
The Juventus head coach is preparing to face former club Bologna for the first time since departing in June.
During his first full season in charge, Motta guided Bologna to a Champions League berth for the first time since 1964-65, while also achieving a new record points tally in Serie A (68) for the Rossoblu.
"Bologna are doing well and are a great team," Motta said. "(But) we have to focus on what we have to do, and many other things that we should avoid.
"They play very vertically and press a lot. They will put a lot of intensity. In Bologna, I lived two wonderful years, both on a personal and sporting level," he added.
Juventus, however, enter the weekend in sixth position, six points off leaders Napoli, after drawing four of their last six Serie A games.
Motta has drawn 10 of his first 19 games in charge of Juventus in all competitions (W8 L1), with only Cestmir Vycpalek in 1971 (12) taking charge of fewer games to reach that total since 1929-30.
They have also struggled at the top end of the pitch, scoring once in their last three games in all competitions, something Motta acknowledged needed to improve.
"We're coming off a few games that we haven't won," Motta said. "In some we've had good performances, but we need to improve.
"We can't just focus on one phase of the game to get the result we want. Our offensive phase is everyone's responsibility, starting with our goalkeeper.
"The more we arrive with the right men up front, the more likely we are to score. At the same time, we need to defend and prevent our opponent from creating anything."
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