Tottenham vs Chelsea: Hakim Ziyech looks set to be Jose Mourinho's biggest problem this weekend

It is straightforward: Chelsea have been playing really well since Hakim Ziyech got in the team.

In fact, Chelsea have not lost a game since the Morocco international made his Premier League debut against Southampton on October 17 with the 27-year-old featuring in all of them.

The west London club have been thrust into the conversation for title contenders. This comes after Frank Lampard's position looked a tad perilous back in September when his side won just once in the Premier League that month, suffering a high-profile defeat to Liverpool and a Carabao Cup shoot-out exit at the hands of this weekend's opponent Tottenham.

The losses brought back that feeling that Chelsea were slightly toothless, naive, a bit too inexperienced and not capable of competing with the league's best. It was a feeling that lingered throughout the 2019/20 campaign as the Blues finished the season in fourth and were humiliated by Bayern Munich in the Champions League. But it is amazing what can happen when a trophy-hungry Russian oligarch decides to sink £222m into his plaything.

A tidy £36m of that was splashed on an Ajax player in January; a star in the Eredivisie club's starting XI for the past four years. Ziyech contributed a remarkable 82 assists in that time and it is that output which Chelsea required. Lampard's squad has lacked a consistent creator since Eden Hazard's departure last year and the slender Moroccan has stepped up already with three assists and two goals in nine appearances.

Of course, it is all well and good swinging in excellent left-footed crosses from the right with consummate ease against Sheffield United or Newcastle to get your team within two points of top spot... can you do it in a big game?

Chelsea's London derby against table-toppers Tottenham is the perfect test for him at the perfect time. It was 'the Mourinho of old' when Spurs put in one of the best defensive performances witnessed in the Premier League for years in their 2-0 win over Manchester City last Saturday, but the Portuguese faces a new tactical dilemma this weekend. In a game where Tottenham will likely implement a very similar gameplan, Mourinho has to figure out how to stop a player in Ziyech who thrives on playing inside packed defences.

Heung-Min Son and even Harry Kane was pushed back to full-back at times last weekend to help contain City's main creative outlet Kevin De Bruyne, but with Ziyech coming off the flank rather than centrally - unlike De Bruyne - he could well be an awkward customer. One of Spurs' wingers may be pinned back to contain his threat and spell difficulties when Tottenham attempt to transition into attack.

Ziyech was used sparingly in midweek, coming off the bench in Chelsea's 2-1 victory at Rennes. He is expected to start at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon and if his recent form is anything to go by, this exciting clash looks primed to be his breakthrough Premier League game that we will be waxing lyrical about next week.

Without a doubt the biggest game of the weekend, because of the hate campaign from Mourinho against Chelsea, and because he'll pick a fight with Frank or Frank will pick a fight with him, I don't know which way it'll go.

The game will be about Mourinho and Tottenham not getting beaten, that's how it's going to be. It doesn't matter who he puts out there every player will be told what to do without the ball, that's the priority. When they have it, they'll be thinking about what happens when they lose it again.

Chelsea will have to work very hard to break Spurs down, Mourinho will not want to get beat, so it's important for Chelsea to score the first goal, and the second and the third too. Defensively they're liable to letting a goal in.