Chelsea Advance To Carabao Cup Final

Chelsea progressed to the final of the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 aggregate win over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening.

Spurs started goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini, Harry Winks and Giovani Lo Celso, with Chelsea going for Andreas Christensen, Mateo Kovacic, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Timo Werner.

The Blues made an ideal start when Antonio Rudiger beat Gollini to a corner-kick from Mason Mount 18 minutes on the clock to head in off the underside of the crossbar.

Chelsea maintained their dominant sequence on all fronts and could’ve bagged a second goal minutes apart through a low strike from outside the area by Hudson-Odoi.

The host began to show up in the closing periods of the half and thought they had a penalty after Rudiger tripped Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but it was given as a free-kick by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) as the foul took place outside the box.

However, the Blues continued to dominate as the match resumed from the interval and watched Rudiger denied a brace when he headed over from a corner. Referee Andre Marinner handed Spurs another penalty 55 minutes in from a foul by Kepa Arrizabalaga on Lucas Moura, but overturned it after consulting with VAR. Spurs turned up the heat five minutes later and forced Kepa into a thumping save from a towering header in the centre of the area by Emerson Royal.

The decisions continued to go against Spurs midway through the second half when Harry Kane had a goal disallowed after straying into an offside position.

Chelsea put on a fresh set of legs not long thereafter, with Hakim Ziyech, Marcos Alonso and Thiago Silva introduced with the host in the ascendancy.

The match balanced out inside the latter exchanges of the encounter with chances few and far between on either of the respective outfits.

Spurs finished strong though with a half-chance from a close-range by Ryan Sessegnon, but he was repelled which left the Blues to victory and a berth in the final.