Chelsea secure Carabao Cup final spot at Tottenham's expense

 

Gonzalo Higuain dominated the headlines in the build up to Chelsea’s welcome of Tottenham for their Carabao Cup semi final clash at Stamford Bridge. Ultimately, the Argentine wasn’t signed in time for Thursday’s clash in west London, but he fixes a glaring flaw in this Blues XI. Chelsea were toothless in the first leg London derby at Wembley, losing 1-0 due to a first half Harry Kane penalty. 

 

Mustering 17 shots to Spurs’ six, Chelsea created the chances but lacked the top quality forward to come away from Wembley with the deserved result. Eden Hazard put in a man of the match performance, yet his outstanding attacking display was in vain. At least with Higuain, Maurizio Sarri has the frontman he’s wanted since the summer, but for the midweek meeting, he opted against the false nine experiment as he moved the Belgian to the left and had Olivier Giroud lead the attack. 

 

Chelsea were easily the better of the two teams in the opening exchanges, but it wasn’t until the 15th minute that the home side created their first chance of note. Hazard was fouled by compatriot Toby Alderweireld and after dusting himself, duly took the resulting free-kick. He found Giroud, whose scissor-kick bounced dangerously in the 18-yard box but was eventually turned behind by Antonio Rudiger. Chelsea were dominant and finally made home advantage count when N’Golo Kante’s low effort from a corner deflected past Paulo Gazzaniga to level the tie on aggregate. Who needs a striker, ey? 

 

Spurs’ evening went from bad to worse shortly after Kante’s goal as the away side were forced into an early change when Ben Davies went off through injury with Danny Rose replacing the Welshman. For Chelsea, they should have doubled their advantage in what was a microcosm of their attacking problems. Hazard broke down the left and picked out Giroud, who was unable to convert from close range. 

 

It was the Belgian, though, who tucked away a wonderful team goal as Hazard got on the end of a Cesar Azpilicueta cross to double Chelsea’s advantage on the night. The away side had an uphill task to force their way back into the encounter after a dire first half and it saw Mauricio Pochettino switch to a three-man defence. Two unlikely performers then chanced their luck on the volley to swing the tie in their favour. 

 

Firstly, Jorginho saw his side footed chance gathered comfortably by Gazzaniga before Alderweireld blazed an effort of his own over the bar from 20 yards. Spurs looked the better of the two teams after the break and came out determined to quickly level the score on aggregate and were duly rewarded for their efforts. Rose, given license to push forward, whipped in a tantalising ball for Fernando Llorente, who held off pressure from David Luiz to head past Kepa. 

 

Hazard was presented with a golden opportunity to send Chelsea back ahead after being played in for Kante and after driving at goal, he pulled his left footed striker just wide of the near post as Chelsea looked to up the ante after the early second half setback. At the other end, Gazzaniga sprung a rapid counter attack with ball for Christian Eriksen. With plenty of time to pick a pass, the Dane played a perfect cross for Llorente, who got his angles all wrong and snatched at his chance to add his and Spurs’ second. 

 

Gazzaniga again was central to another Spurs chance as the Argentine played in Lucas Moura, on for Llorente, who timed his run excellently, only to fire into the side netting at Kepa’s near post. Hazard again had his chance to put Chelsea back ahead on aggregate with 15 minutes to play after working space, but his low drive curled the wrong side of the post from 20 yards. 

 

Giroud had a couple of guilt edged chances in injury time to put Chelsea into the final yet twice fluffed his lines that saw this one go to penalties. It needn’t have mattered though as Eric Dier and Lucas Moura both missed from the spot in the resulting shootout that saw Luiz score the decisive penalty to send Chelsea to the Carabao Cup final. 

 

 

While Chelsea will be celebrating their progression to the final, success in Thursday’s London derby once more highlighted their striking deficiencies as Giroud had more shots (5) than any other player on the pitch. Sarri has been criticised for played man of the match Hazard through the middle in the past, yet when his strikers perform as Grioud did in the Carabao Cup tie, it’s clear to see why he persisted with Hazard through the middle, even when both the Frenchman and Alvaro Morata were fit. 

 

Giroud doesn’t suit the Sarri-ball system and a more prolific frontman would’ve put the chances created for the former Arsenal man late on away. Higuain ended his pre-match welcome speech with “See you Sunday” and if Giroud’s performance was anything to go by on Thursday night, supporters will be seeing a lot more of the Argentine between now and May.

Chelsea secure Carabao Cup final spot at Tottenham's expense