Chelsea vs Tottenham LIVE: Carabao Cup result, final score and reaction after Ben Davies’ own goal
Follow live reaction from Stamford Bridge in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final between the London rivals
Chelsea seized control of their league cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, beating their London rivals 2-0 in the first leg on Wednesday thanks to an early strike by Kai Havertz and an own goal by Spurs defender Ben Davies.
The Blues swamped their visitors right from the kickoff and, after a mix-up in the Spurs defence in the fifth minute, Havertz fired an angled shot that was goal-bound before it went in off the foot of Davinson Sanchez.
Half an hour later, the dominant hosts got their second goal, albeit with a slice of luck, when Japhet Tanganga headed away a Hakim Ziyech free kick, only for the ball to rebound into the Spurs net off Davies’ shoulder.
The win dented the hopes of Spurs, under former Chelsea coach Antonio Conte, of winning a first trophy since lifting the league cup in 2008. In that time, Chelsea have won 12 major trophies including three Premier League and two Champions League titles.
Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel restored record signing Romelu Lukaku to the team having dropped him for Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool as punishment for the Belgian saying in an interview that he was unhappy with his role at Stamford Bridge.
Lukaku went close with a first-half header, created a chance for Ziyech after the break which the Moroccan wasted and hit an injury-time shot straight at Hugo Lloris.
Chelsea 1 - 0 Tottenham
11 mins: Royal passes the ball up to Lucas Moura who spins away from Alonso and makes a decent run down the right side. He brings the ball into the middle and looks to feed it to Son Heung-min but underhits his pass and Antonio Rudiger gets to the ball first.
Save! Cesar Azpilicueta swings a cross into the box from the right side and it goes over Lukaku before being won by Royal at the back post. He heads the ball down and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s attempted clearance hits one of his teammates and bounces over to Havertz in space on the left side of the box. He snatches at a shot and drills it low to Lloris’ right but the Tottenham goalkeeper dives across and smothers the effort!
Chelsea 1 - 0 Tottenham
8 mins: Antonip Conte will be fuming over that goal. It was a simple mistake at the back that has allowed Chelsea to get in behind and a risk Tanganga didn’t need to take.
Hakim Ziyech carries the ball down the right wing but he’s tackled by Matt Doherty who comes away with the ball for Spurs.
GOAL! Chelsea 1 - 0 Tottenham (Havertz, 5’)⚽️
5 mins: Chelsea take the lead! They’ve started positively and have been rewarded. Japhet Tanganga passes the ball out to Emerson Royal who loses it immediately to Marcos Alonso on the press. He takes the ball into the box and slots in Kai Havertz. Havertz takes the ball into the six-yard box and shoots sending his effort towards the far corner. Davinson Sanchez sticks out a leg to block the shot but the ball deflects off him and finishes in the back of the net!
Chelsea 0 - 0 Tottenham
3 mins: Chance! Chelsea have started quickly here. They’re looking to be positive and feed the ball into the box. Lukaku receives the ball with his back to goal and holds it up well before passing it back to Saul Niguez. He sends it across to Mason Mount who’s encouraged to shoot from just outside the box. He laces a low left-footed effort at goal but it gets blocked in the middle of the penalty area.
Chelsea 0 - 0 Tottenham
Kick off: Both teams take the knee before Lucas Moura kicks off the match. Spurs send the ball over to the left wing but it’s won by the home side and worked up the pitch. Kai Havertz wins the ball and heads it across to Romelu Lukaku. He chests it down and drives into the box. Spurs are left back-tracking as Lukaku passes the ball inside but Havertz overruns it and the ball is cleared by the visitors.
Chelsea vs Tottenham
Here come the teams. Hugo Lloris leads out the Tottenham side before Cesar Azpilicueta and Chelsea make their way out of the tunnel. There’s a round of applause for the home team as they line up on the pitch.
The first leg of this Carabao Cup semi-final kicks off next.
Chelsea vs Tottenham
This is not the first time one of Antonio Conte’s teams has lined up as the opposition at his former club: Chelsea.
Back in the 2012/13 season, Conte’s Juventus travelled to London for Matchday One of their Champions League group stage campaign. That night, the Italian side fell 2-0 behind but went on to salvage a draw late on.
Two months later, Juve hosted the Blues in Turin and comfortably eased to a 3-0 win before ultimately topping Group E.
Chelsea vs Tottenham: Thiago Silva on tonight’s game
Chelsea defender Thiago Silva spoke earlier this week about tonight’s semi-final and how his team will approach a difficult game against an in form Tottenham side. He said:
It’s not a story of these local derbies being better than others, but there is something more to these games especially for the supporters.
“It’s an added motivation for us and for the supporters especially as we’re playing at home, so we need to play extremely well. They haven’t lost since Antonio Conte arrived so we’re going to try to put them into difficulty.
“We’ll play at the highest level possible because to beat teams like this you need to play at that level, as we did when we played there in the Premier League.
“We need a good result at home to go into the second leg to make sure we reach the final.”
Chelsea vs Tottenham
15 minutes to go until kick off in this Carabao Cup semi-final first leg. Who’s going to come out on top this evening?
Chelsea vs Tottenham: Conte on Tottenham’s progress
Antonio Conte has made a brilliant impact since taking over at Tottenham propelling them up to sixth in the Premier League with two games in hand on those immediately above them in the table.
Spurs are hoping to end a 14-year wait for a trophy since they last won the League Cup in 2007-08 but despite Conte’s impressive start he says that there is still a gap between Spurs and the top teams in England. He said:
I think that when Tottenham brought me here they wanted to send a signal outside - and maybe also to our players,
“I think this is important and we have to try to build a situation where we are all involved and to try to create a situation that we can be competitive to try to win.
“At the moment I think there is an important gap with other teams. I see many, many teams more ready now to win the title at this moment.
“But we have to work and we have to try to improve in every aspect.”
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