Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi spoke before Saturday's Premier League trip to Stamford Bridge, quoting his remark that Chelsea's signings from Brighton were "not great" and urging his players to turn the club's poor record there into motivation.
He also set out Tottenham's squad news before the match.
De Zerbi on Chelsea's Brighton signings
As reported by ESPN, De Zerbi was asked on Friday for his view and said: "What do you think? (Not great?), no, not at all. They bought good players: Caicedo, João Pedro, and Welbeck now, Facundo Buonanotte, Valentín Barco, Robert Sánchez, and Levi Colwill."
As reported by ESPN, De Zerbi also said: "I am always motivated whether against Chelsea or any other team. When you work at Brighton, you work to make the club happy. And to make your club happy, you sometimes need to sell players, because players want and push to leave for a bigger club. This is football, and it is a natural part of it."
Record at Stamford Bridge
De Zerbi said Tottenham have won just once in 33 Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge.
He said: "For me, this is an additional motivation, and I want the players to use this negative record to give us more drive, mentality and energy to win the match, because we have enough quality to achieve victory."
Players available
Pedro Porro, Andy Robertson and Omar Marmoush are ready to face Chelsea.
James Maddison is a doubt after he scored in his first start in almost 18 months against Coventry City on Monday.
Dejan Kulusevski is being assessed after his return in the same match after a 526-day absence.
Unavailable players
Lucas Bergvall and Destiny Udogie are sidelined with knee injuries.
Savinho is sidelined with a muscle injury.
Rodrigo Bentancur is out through suspension.