Highlights

• Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur face off in a highly anticipated match, with Mauricio Pochettino returning to challenge his former club.
• Chelsea's form has improved recently, but Pochettino faces a bigger test when they face Spurs on Monday night.
• 'The Battle of the Bridge' in 2015/16 between Chelsea and Spurs was a chaotic and memorable fixture, with intense rivalry and controversies.

Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur lock horns once again on Monday night, though the early embers of their respective seasons look unnervingly stark if you are associated to the former. The two capital club rivals will battle it out in the Premier League – but the fixture marks a more important moment for Mauricio Pochettino, now in the dugout at Stamford Bridge.

The Argentine will return to north London to challenge his former employers, who are enjoying a brief spell of table-topping success under the lovable Ange Postecoglou. It's a match that has the potential to be an absolute thriller and the return of Pochettino just adds that extra layer of excitement that may be the deciding factor that sees the west Londoners pick up some valuable points on the road.

Formerly of Paris Saint-Germain, Pochettino has struggled to get a tune out of his side since joining in June 2023, having picked up just three wins from their opening 10 league outings. Their progression in the League Cup has been a silver lining since the new campaign got underway, however, as they duly dismissed the likes of Wimbledon, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Blackburn.

Things have taken a slight turn for the better since the back end of September, as Chelsea have lost just one of their last five fixtures in all competitions and were particularly unlucky not to run away with three points against London rivals Arsenal in October, having gone 2-0 up just after the interval.

All eyes and focus will be on this weekend’s meeting with a high-flying Spurs outfit, though. The two heavyweights of English football have produced some memorable encounters in the 21st century, none more eventful than their meeting in 2015/16. But will their upcoming fixture result in the same fireworks? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Read More: Tottenham: Where are Pochettino’s first 10 signings now?

Reliving ‘The Battle of the Bridge’ fixture between Chelsea and Spurs

Monikered ‘The Battle of the Bridge’, the cogs in your brain may begin to tick as you try to rack your brains and remember one of the fiercest Premier League fixtures between the duo to have ever been played out in the final embers of the 2015/16 campaign. And boy, was it a corker!

From a purely footballing perspective, it was hugely entertaining. Perennial goalscorer Harry Kane, assisted by Erik Lamela, opened the four-goal thriller with a deft touch and finish around Chelsea shot stopper Asmir Begovic, while Heung-min Son doubled their lead with a well-taken strike, one that John Terry attempted to thwart with a sliding tackle. Spurs were in cruise control and the away section of Stamford Bridge would’ve been bouncing in ecstasy, but that would’ve all come crashing down once defender-turned-goal scorer Gary Cahill smashed one home amid chaos in the penalty area. None other than bright spark Eden Hazard then provided the goods for the home side as his first-touch, equalising curler past Hugo Lloris sent their stomping ground into raptures.

But there was so much more to 'The Battle of the Bridge' than goals and the storyline of Leicester City winning English football's biggest prize against all the odds because of that draw. The now iconic match between Chelsea and Spurs resembled a warzone at times, with incidents ranging from Mousa Dembele, who ranked eighth in GIVEMESPORT's top Premier League Belgians, poking Diego Costa in the eye to Erik Lamela stamping on Cesc Fabregas' hand.

Even Pochettino managed to be front and centre of the action at one point as he interjected between a melee of players to stop Willian and Danny Rose from clashing – but alas, they did anyway. In fairness, with tempers flared at its peak just before the half-time whistle and just after Spurs’ second strike of the affair, the South American probably incited further outrage.

The ever-growing excitement and chaos ensued into stoppage time as a hat-trick of Spurs players: Kane, Dembele and Ryan Mason all got put into the book as the time trickled past into the 96th-minute mark. What a fixture to remember – it had it all: goals, excitement and enough fire to make fans revel in the occasion.

One football fan has created a video compilation of 'The Battle of the Bridge' and it perfectly illustrates just how chaotic that night in west London was. And you can check it out – in its entire glory – below. Get that popcorn at the ready as you’re about to relive one of the most anger-fuelled fixtures to have ever graced England’s topflight.

Video: 'The Battle of the Bridge' in 2015/16

Is that the craziest game in Premier League history? It must just be. It was absolute bedlam from the first whistle right up until the last and the fact no one was actually red carded can be classed somewhat a miracle. If VAR had been in place, multiple players would no doubt have been sent for an early bath. Spurs did set a disciplinary record in the game, though, by having nine players cautioned from start to finish.

Pochettino's side picked up nine (yes, NINE) yellow cards at Stamford Bridge, the most ever by one team in a Premier League match. Dembele was the man who received the most severe punishment in the aftermath of the game as well, as the Belgian midfielder was handed a six-match suspension for the aforementioned eye gouge on Costa. The man in the middle, Mark Clattenburg, has since admitted that, amid all the confusion of neither side seeing a man sent off, his on-field demeanour and reluctance to show a red card was all planned ahead of the fixture.

Speaking in 2017, the former Premier League referee confessed, “It should have been three red cards to Tottenham. I allowed them to self-destruct so all the media, all the people in the world went: ‘Tottenham lost the title.’ If I sent three players off from Tottenham, what are the headlines? ‘Clattenburg cost Tottenham the title.’ It was pure theatre that Tottenham self-destructed against Chelsea and Leicester won the title.”

Read More: Mark Clattenburg makes stunning admonition about the 'Battle of the Bridge'

Pochettino’s first test against his old club promises to be one to feast your eyes on. Now on the other side of the affair and with a win the only viable option, there is every chance that Monday’s fixture could be littered with much of the same animosity that was present back in May 2016 – and for a neutral fan, that is the hope.