A one-sided London derby leaves Tottenham with a mountain to climb in the second leg
With the prospect of a trip to wembley just two games away, a game like this seemed like it would be tight, but a great display from Chelsea meant they ran out 2-0 winners in the first leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Finals
The game started very much in Chelsea’s favour, as just 4 minutes into the tie a poor pass from Japhet Tanganga allowed Marcos Alonso to find the perfect opening for Kai Havertz, who struck the ball across the ground towards the bottom right corner, before Davinson Sanchez found himself directly in the path of the ball and unable to prevent a goal, deflecting it in to put the hosts a goal up early, giving Tottenham an uphill battle for the rest of the night.
Spurs did not improve from there in the first half. 30 minutes later, after a multitude of attacks and a dominance of the ball Chelsea found the net through a Tottenham mistake again, this time it was all Tottenham’s own doing. A cross swung in from a Hakim Ziyech free kick seemed unlikely to result in a goal when it found the head of Japhet Tanganga. A lack of awareness resulted in Tanganga heading the ball into his fellow Spurs defender, Ben Davies, who was completely unable to avoid the ball as it was headed into the side of his body and deflected past an unresponsive Hugo Lloris, putting Chelsea Two goals ahead and firmly in line to see out the rest of this tie.
Spurs carried this poor form into half time, where they desperately needed changes to rescue their chances in the first leg.
2 Changes were made into the break, with Chelsea goalscorer Kai Havertz being substituted off for German compatriot Timo Werner, whilst Spurs changed the system completely and changed Matt Doherty for Tanguy Ndombele, matching the 4-2-3-1 lined up with.
The changes seemed to make an instant impact, as Spurs finally get a shot just minutes into the second half, where Kepa Arizibalaga saved a Harry Kane free kick as it seemed Spurs were ready to get right back into it.
A yellow card for Malang Sarr followed, before a double Chelsea substitution brought Ruben Loftus-Cheek on for his 100th Chelsea appearance, as Mateo Kovacic Joined him in replacing Mason Mount and Saúl Ñíguez, whilst Tottenham replaced Oliver Skipp with Harry Winks.
Just five minutes later, Hakim Ziyech made way for Christian Pulisic after Chelsea had begun to regain control of the tie. Straight after Tottenham made a double substitution of their own, bringing on Bryan Gil and Giovani Lo Celso for Lucas Moura and Son Heung Min. In the final minute Cesar Azpilicueta made way for 18-Year-Old Harvey Vale, as the first leg was all but done.
Overall a good performance combined with Tottenham mistakes resulted in Chelsea taking a 2-0 victory at Stamford bridge. Antonio Conte therefore became the first permanent Tottenham manager to lose a Carabao cup tie since Mauricio Pochettino.