Tottenham’s attacking quartet look to secure the edge over Chelsea

As Chelsea and Tottenham contemplate Sunday afternoon at Stamford Bridge and the latest instalment in their own sub-epic two-hander, it is tempting to see another example of the Trigger’s Broom thesis, the search for the essence of things. Change the stadium, change the vibe, change the recruitment. Change the manager (key detail: get one who likes holding up trophies). Change the objective level of expectation. Is this thing still Spurs?

Or at least, is it still Spurs in that defining performance mode? Can this team be expected to defeat high-level opponents when victory matters most; or conform to muscle memory, romping proudly on those delicate foal-like legs before collapsing in a whirl of hooves whenever the prospect of actual success looms into view?

The same feeling of flux is of course present at Chelsea and in a far more profound way. It is still hard to take in the full brain-boggling extent of what has happened in the last six months to the most transformative presence of the English football century. For two decades the real marvel of Chelsea’s winning machine was its constancy, the way head coaches came and went, a different face, different coat, a different way of standing; but still some binding thread of cold, hard sporting will (and £1.5bn in rolling loans) kept this super-yacht surging on.

That 20-year project has now been stripped not just of its bottomless pockets but of every member of the club hierarchy responsible for running the business. Is it still Chelsea? What is Chelsea exactly? Is a self-publicising bro-billionaire in Ringo shades really any different to an inscrutable oligarch in designer double denim? Where will we feel the ripples, the altered angles? It is of course too early to tell,