Who will come out on top mentor or protégée?

Jose Mourinho and former-friend Andre Villas-Boas come up against each other for the first time opposing dugouts on Saturday lunchtime

Tottenham hosts Chelsea at White Hart Lane in the early kick-off on Saturday lunchtime.

The two teams look set to be involved in the race for the Premier League title this season.

The game will mark the first time that Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas have come up against each other in opposing dugouts.

Protégée

The Spurs boss spent years working as part of Mourinho’s backroom staff with the likes of Porto, Chelsea and Inter. Villas-Boas was by all accounts always very precise in his work and was always ambitious, but he obviously learnt a lot from the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’.

Villas-Boas is not the only Premier League boss to have worked alongside Mourinho though. West Brom boss Steve Clarke was Mourinho’s trusted lieutenant at Stamford Bridge in his first spell, which also blocked Villas-Boas’ route to advancement under Mourinho.

Reputation

Jose Mourinho is without doubt of one of the best bosses’ football has ever seen. He has won trophies in every country he has managed in and gained a lot of admirers. However, he has also gained a reputation for being arrogant.

Villas-Boas is far more humble in his approach to management. He is a completely different character to the former-Inter boss and maybe that is why Mourinho enjoyed having him around.

Ambition

Villas-Boas has admitted that he has always been ambitious. When asked about why he severed his ties with Mourinho, he told Sky Sports: “Our break-up point was because I was full of ambition to give him something extra and I wanted further involvement from the job I was doing at that time.

“I felt I could give him much more. But he didn’t feel the need for somebody near to him or in another position as an assistant, and because of that it was decided that it was time, after Inter Milan, to continue our careers (apart).”

The ambition to further himself led Villas-Boas to a trophy-laden spell at Porto, before an ill-fated stint at the helm of Chelsea. The rookie boss has somewhat rebuilt his reputation at Spurs though and they are now looking like real contenders in the Premier League.

Relationship

It now appears former-friends and colleagues Villas-Boas and Mourinho are no longer on talking terms. The Spurs boss has stated that pair’s relationship has now broken down. Maybe this game will give the pair a chance to mend some bridges.

Both bosses have moved on, but Villas-Boas cannot deny that he would not be where he is today without Jose Mourinho. Maybe it is time for the two old friends to kiss and make up.

Test

A home game against Chelsea will be a big test of Tottenham’s title credentials. This season the title race is probably as open as it has been for quite some time, but Chelsea will definitely be one of the challengers.

This game will be a chance for the Tottenham players to prove to everybody that they have what it takes to compete with the big boys. It may be early in the season and a loss would not be fatal to their title challenge, but a victory would no doubt boost morale no end at White Hart Lane.

Tottenham are currently outsiders for the title. However, looking at the quality of player Spurs signed in the summer then they should be challenging for the big trophies this season, even after losing a certain Mr Bale to Real Madrid.

This game will also be a test of the second coming of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea. The Blues have not been at their best this season, yet find themselves just two points off second-place Spurs and current league leaders Arsenal.

Jose Mourinho was always going to come under pressure returning to the bridge. The saying never go back seems to keep coming up when people refer to Mourinho these days. However, the Portuguese boss will not care what people are saying right now.

The former-Real Madrid boss has been successful all over Europe and I certainly will not be betting against him being a success at Chelsea second time around either.

Draw

Both teams have had reasonably good starts to the campaign. It really is hard to separate these two teams and the most likely outcome of this game is probably a draw (23/10). Whatever the outcome of this clash it promises to be a game full of drama and action.

Who will come out on top mentor or protégée?