Tonight we witness Chelsea - a team that has famously invested £200million on players in the last two seasons, visit London rivals Tottenham - who have invested just £4million - in an FA Cup quarter-final replay. 

Chelsea, regardless of both sides missing key players in the last meeting, were hopelessly outclassed for most of the game at Stamford Bridge, yet escaped with a 3-3 draw.  Only Martin Jol's substitutions, wary of a small knock being carried by Dimitar Berbatov and the fragility of an over-utilised Aaron Lennon, allowed Chelsea to find their way back into a game where they had not featured at all.

If the excuse by the Chelsea squad was complacency at home in a game in which all bookmakers favoured them, then those excuses are gone now and Chelsea will be expected to put on a champions performance rather than a Championship performance this time round. Chic football will not be their first worry - just a win at all costs, with Frank Lampard, as usual, their Talisman.

Chelsea will, no doubt, be more formidable even if John Terry does not return. Manager Jose Mourinho will have learned much from their defensive frailties at home and will have spent plenty of time putting together a healthier game plan. Tottenham, too, will expect to be stronger in defence as Michael Dawson and Ricardo Rocha continue to create a better understanding and Paul Robinson's confidence continues to recover.

In actuality this will be a game all about backbone and assurance. The team that imposes themselves is likely to win, since neither of these London teams plays pure counter-attacking football. Look for Chelsea to come out of the blocks firing on all cylinders, shutting down Spurs' passing game and pressurising all the way up the field with crunching tackles for the first 20minutes. If Tottenham can weather that well they will be in with a very good chance of booking their semi-final slot against Blackburn Rovers.

Both teams enjoy building attacks and it should be a stormer. There are some big, as well as special, reputations at stake here and a defeat for Chelsea would be far more devastating to them than for Spurs.