Chelsea vs Tottenham: FA Cup semi-final crucial in the Premier League title race, says Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Tom Dutton22 April 2017

Former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes Saturday's FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Tottenham could have a huge bearing on the title race.

Antonio Conte's team face Spurs at Wembley in the Cup just days after Mauricio Pochettino's second-placed side reduced the Blues' Premier League lead to four points.

Both clubs are still in the hunt for a domestic Double and Hasselbaink, who was twice a FA Cup runner-up, thinks Saturday's winners will could also steal a march in the race for the League crown.

"It's always special when these two teams are playing against each other," Hasselbaink told Sky Sports.

"The FA Cup is a special, special cup. The rivalry makes it even bigger and on top of that it's number one against number two in the Premier League.

"Psychologically what is very important, especially for Chelsea, is that they come out the better for the Premier League."

Asked if a Spurs victory would swing the title race, the former Chelsea striker added: "It will give Tottenham a big boost, the mind is one of the most important things.

"The Premier League will be a little bit too far for him [Pochettino] this year, but if he can start with the FA Cup - he needs to win something to keep his young players at the club."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in