Chelsea vs Tottenham preview: Manchester United vs Arsenal, Leeds vs Chelsea and other brutal football battles ahead of rivals’ Stamford Bridge re-match
As London rivals prepare to do serious battle again, we take a look back at some of most brutal encounters on the pitch
TOTTENHAM return to Chelsea for the first time since the ‘Battle of the Bridge’ last season.
The two London rivals played out a brutal encounter at Stamford Bridge with both sides fined for failing to control their players and Mousa Dembele was banned for six games after an eye-gouge on Diego Costa.
Spurs threw away a two-goal goal lead to draw 2-2 on the night and officially hand Leicester their historic Premier League title.
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Football is a contact sport, but sometimes the contact can steal the spot light.
Here are seven classic football battles
Battle of Santiago: Chile 2 Italy 0, group stage — 1962 World Cup
“THE game you are about to see is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football possibly in the history of the game.”
This was BBC presenter David Coleman’s famous introduction to this 1962 World Cup clash.
English referee, Ken Aston, struggled to take control of the match with the first foul committed after just 12 seconds.
Italy’s Giorgio Ferrini was given his marching orders on 12 minutes and needed the police to escort him off the pitch.
In shocking scenes of violence, there were punches, kicks and a broken nose for the Azzurri’s Humberto Maschio — though the perpetrator, Leonel Sanchez, was just given a talking-to by tough nut, Aston.
FA Cup final, 1970 — Chelsea 2 Leeds 1 (after a replay)
THE two sides were generally regarded as the dirtiest in English football.
And with neither having a direct derby rival, they became local enemies in principle.
Ron Harris caught Leeds' Eddie Gray with a kick to the back of the knee in the early exchanges, while Norman Hunter and Ian Hutchinson were trading punches.
Remarkably, referee Eric Jennings booked just one player — Chelsea’s Hutchinson.
In 1997, former official, David Elleray watched the game back and concluded he would have given each side six red cards and 20 bookings in all.
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Battle of Old Trafford I: Manchester United 0 Arsenal 1, Division One — 1990
THE rivalry started when Nigel Winterburn taunted Brian McClair after a last-gasp penalty miss which prevented a replay and saw Arsenal progress to the 1988 FA Cup Sixth Round.
And when the former Gunners left-back lunged in on United’s Denis Irwin, McClair couldn’t resist and he took his chance.
With his enemy on the floor, the Scot kicked at him and players from both sides got involved — with David Seaman the only man to avoid the violence.
On the day, only Winterburn and Arsenal’s Anders Limpar were booked.
But the FA docked both sides points and they were both fined £50,000.
Battle of Old Trafford II: Manchester United 0 Arsenal 0, Premier League — 2004
HISTORY repeated itself 14 years on.
Tensions were high as two most successful clubs in the Premier League went head-to-head — and now it had become personal.
Arsenal’s Public Enemy No.1, Ruud van Nistelrooy, was involved in an incident which saw Patrick Vieira red carded, and all hell broke loose.
Normality was eventually resumed, and the Dutchman later had the chance to seal victory with a last-gasp penalty — but he hit the bar.
Gunners defender, Martin Keown, taunted his rival and his team-mates joined in.
United players came to Van Nistelrooy’s aid and the fallout carried on after the final whistle. Players from both clubs were fined.
Battle of Nuremburg: Portugal 1 Holland 0, last-16 — 2006 World Cup
THIS is the third — and least significant — famous battle in Nuremberg.
In 1632, the Siege of Nuremberg was an event during the Thirty Years’ War, and in 1945 the Nazis and the U.S Army fought for five days in the city.
But, in a more light-hearted event, Portugal and Holland played out a World Cup cracker which resulted in 16 yellow cards and four reds — which unsurprisingly set a new record.
Cristiano Ronaldo was left in tears following a tackle from Khalid Boulahrouz and the first booking occurred after two minutes.
Maniche, Petit, Luis Figo, Nuno Valente and goalkeeper, Ricardo were booked for Portugal, while Mark van Bommel, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart received yellow cards for the Dutch.
Costinha, Boulahrouz, Deco and Giovanni van Bronckhorst were all dismissed for two yellows — with eight bookings across both sides arriving in 14 second half minutes.
Snarling Cup final: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1 — 2007 League Cup final
THIS was the nickname given to the competition, while it was still sponsored by Carling.
The London rivals saw three players sent off as tensions exploded after the final whistle.
John Obi Mikel, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor were red carded in the 102nd minute of the game — while Emmanuel Eboue was retrospectively banned for punching Wayne Bridge.
Earlier, John Terry had been knocked out after an inadvertent kick in the face by Abou Diaby.
Both clubs were fined £100,000 for failing to control their players and Arsene Wenger had to pay £2,500 for comments about the linesman.
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Battle of the Bridge: Chelsea 2 Tottenham 2 — 2016
NOT to be confused the with the 1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, between the English and the Vikings.
This was more of a Civil War between two arch-London rivals — which was anything by civil.
Chelsea had endured a disastrous campaign and absolutely nothing to play for. Well, except the chance to stop Tottenham winning the title.
But it started horribly for the hosts with Spurs racing into a two-goal lead — only the Blues to level.
And the young Tottenham side lost their heads. There was fighting and over-exuberant tackle all over.
In all, 12 booking were handed out. Nine of which went to the away side — with Eric Dier inexplicably not being sent off.