Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo believes the passionate atmosphere of the London derby against Tottenham on Saturday is the ideal stage for his players to focus on football in the wake of recent off-field scandals involving captain John Terry and Ashley Cole.

Terry will attend the match at White Hart Lane as a spectator as he serves the first match of his four-game ban after being found guilty of racist language toward QPR’s Anton Ferdinand last season.

But it is the first time the Chelsea players face Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas since the former Stamford Bridge manager was sacked in March after a tormented nine-month reign.

Di Matteo worked under Villas-Boas at Stamford Bridge before replacing the 35-year-old former Porto manager as caretaker when he was sacked.

“We will be very focused playing against Tottenham, a team that is in very good form. We haven’t won in the league there since 2005, it is a very long time. They have always been very good games, difficult games. I don’t think it is about revenge,” Di Matteo said.

The European champions can expect a hostile reception in North London as the teams meet for the first time since Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final victory last season, while their Champions League triumph denied their opponents a place in this year’s tournament.

A win would move fifth-placed Tottenham within two points of Chelsea and Villas-Boas said: “In the end there is one thing which has been to a certain extent blown out of proportion – this is certainly not a personal matter.

“But it is the team who took this club out of the Champions League, this is the team who prevented this team from playing in the FA Cup final last year.

Di Matteo revealed that he has stayed in touch with Villas-Boas during the past nine months, but insists that on the touchline they will be anything but friends.