Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku loom as Chelsea and Tottenham’s problems exposed in friendly draw

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The twin epics offer a glimpse into the contrasting moods of the rivals ahead of the new season, with Kane expected to return to Tottenham reluctantly this week, while Lukaku could return to Stamford Bridge to much fanfare.

If Chelsea complete a record deal with the Belgian, he promises to complete a squad that played for Tottenham for an hour before weakening with a raft of second-half changes.

The Blues looked apart as they dominated possession but there was a familiar lack of a pivotal point from a flexible front three from Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech, who scored both sides in the first half.

The Belgian will add another dimension to the Blues, by providing the European champions in Tuchel with poaching and a player capable of catching the ball.

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The head coach refused to comment on relations with Lukaku while he is still on Inter Milan’s books, saying only that he was a “great player”, but he clearly admitted that Chelsea have lacked a real central defender since the departure of Olivier Giroud.

“We can use a player who is used to playing with his back to goal, and his strength is to maintain possession from long balls so we can add this direct style of play to our group,” Tuchel said.

“This is the quality of a player who is not Tammy [Abraham], Timo or Kai, so that’s a profile we don’t have in the team.”

With Lukaku, Chelsea may have finished Spurs sooner, and even after Tuchel made a handful of forgotten players, including Timoy Bakayoko and Davide Zappacosta, the Blues were roaring, with Tottenham debutant Pierluigi Giulini making a string of saves.

By contrast, Kane’s return to this Spurs squad would only go on to crack several cracks, and in the opening 45 minutes it was easy to see why the striker was so desperate to get out this summer. Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura were seconded from the midfield, while Nuno Espirito Santo’s three-man midfield was bypassed, and Dele Alli was particularly struggling with N’Golo Kante.

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Lucas continued his impressive preparatory season with another goal, as he brought Tottenham back into the match with an effort that led to a major deflection, and helped Steven Bergwijn to equalize with Tottenham with a low shot that penetrated the goalkeeper’s legs, before Nuno made late changes. Especially.

Spurs could draw their heart from the fight, but the first hour revealed the scale of the task of rebuilding Nuno.

“There are a lot of players outside,” the coach said then, and his team might have a very different feeling at the end of the transfer window.

However, time is running out in the near term to get Tanguy Ndombele and Giovanni Lo Celso – both absent last night – to rush into Manchester City’s visit on Sunday, while Brian Gill and Christian Romero, expected to complete a £47m transfer from Atalanta tomorrow, would need to. Time to sleep, with the first remaining in the Olympics.

Despite the changes at Spurs over the summer, both teams felt as if they were continuing where they left off from last season, with Chelsea looking like European champions and Spurs in action.

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