Highlights : Chelsea 2 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur (4 – 2 Pen) Player Ratings | Carabao Cup

• Chelsea have reached the League Cup final for the eighth time; the joint-most final appearances by a London club in the competition (also Spurs and Arsenal).

• Maurizio Sarri is the sixth manager to take Chelsea to a League Cup final and just the fourth to do it in his first season in charge (after Vialli, Mourinho and Grant).

• Chelsea won just their second League Cup penalty shoot-out in their last six attempts, with both shootout successes coming at home.

• This was the third time that Spurs have failed to progress from a League Cup semi-final having won the first leg, alongside crashing out against Newcastle in 1975-76 and Arsenal in 1986-87.

• In all competitions, Chelsea have lost none of the 46 games in which Eden Hazard has scored in at Stamford Bridge (P46 W39 D7 L0).

• Since the start of last season, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard has been directly involved in seven goals in his eight League Cup games (4 goals, 3 assists).

• N’Golo Kante has scored four goals in 30 apps for Chelsea in all competitions this season – as many as he netted in his previous three seasons in England combined (4 in 129 apps).

• Fernando Llorente has scored eight goals in his last five starts for Tottenham in all competitions.

 Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son will not be available for Spurs, it’s not all bad news on Tottenham’s injury front, with Moussa Sissoko (groin) back in training, although it remains to be seen whether he is fit for Thursday.
Lucas Moura (knee) is back in full training and should be fit to feature at Stamford Bridge while Victor Wanyama, who has been out since November with a knee problem, is also back in training but is unlikely to be involved.

Gonzalo Higuain will not feature for Chelsea as his signing was not completed in time. Eden Hazard could continue as a ‘false nine’ or Olivier Giroud could start, with Alvaro Morata out of favour ahead of his expected departure to Atletico Madrid. Ruben Loftus-Cheek (back) is likely to be out again

Manager Quotes

Pochetino

“I am so optimistic,” Pochettino was quoted as saying in the Mirror . “We are going to prepare for Chelsea, try to find solutions. Try to be solid, aggressive, offensive and keep our identity.
“Of course it’s going to be tough. I don’t say we’re going to win easily on Thursday. But we are going to try. That is the most important thing and I know that afterwards I will be happy because the squad we have is going to give their best to be in the final.”

Chelsea Maurizio Sarri

 “this group of players are extremely difficult to motivate”. he said: “I think we need to react on the pitch. The rest is nothing.
“We discussed with the players how to try to improve the approach, the motivation, the determination, so we are trying to change something in training, in pre-match, in everything. I think we all have to react on the pitch, of course.”

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