BOURNEMOUTH -- Guus Hiddink thinks that Chelsea supporters could forgive their team for a nightmare season if they manage to derail Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League title challenge.
Spurs visit Stamford Bridge a week on Monday hoping to keep the pressure on leaders Leicester City, as well as end the wait for their first victory at the home of the Blues in the Premier League era.
Chelsea's title defence crumbled into ruin before Christmas under Jose Mourinho, but they can still have a huge influence over who succeeds them as champions as they face both Tottenham and Leicester at home in their final four matches of the season.
In the closing stages of Saturday's 4-1 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, travelling Chelsea supporters used an explicit chant to stress the importance of halting Tottenham's momentum at any cost.
Asked if beating Tottenham might secure the Chelsea players a measure of fan forgiveness after the most disappointing season of the Roman Abramovich era, Hiddink replied: "I can see now that the feelings about that are very strong, so I think there's a big chance!
"I'm not a desperate man, but we're desperate in the good sense of the word to get this season done to Chelsea standard."
Asmir Begovic, expected to keep his place in goal as Thibaut Courtois serves the second match of his suspension for getting sent off against Manchester City, believes Chelsea might be able to exploit any pressure that Tottenham may be feeling from their surprise title challenge.
"It's hard to get over the line, especially when you're doing it for the first time," he said. "It's a big deal for them, a big experience for the young players, their group and their manager. I'm sure they're enjoying it but it comes with pressures and hopefully we can give them a big test on Monday night.
"I know the fans are desperate for us to beat Tottenham. It's a huge game, titles or no titles. We're in a position where we can have an impact [on the title race] and we need to put in a good performance on Monday. Today helps for confidence reasons and hopefully it takes us forwards.
"We're definitely going to try and give it our best. If we carry on from today and put in another good performance, we'll hopefully get a good result. Spurs at home is a big game at any time of the year."