January 13, (THEWILL) – Chelsea advanced to the Carabao Cup final with a 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, winning the semi-finals 3-0 on aggregate.
Antonio Conte was unable to defeat his previous team, who will face either Arsenal or Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on February 27.
Though Spurs dominated the first half, Chelsea had the first great chance when Antonio Rudiger’s ball over the top was received by Romelu Lukaku, but Pierluigi Gollini – starting in place of rested club captain Hugo Lloris – stopped the Belgian from close range.
However, the Italian goalkeeper is unlikely to want to relive Chelsea’s opener anytime soon. Rudiger’s header rebounded in off the corner of the bar and post, after the Chelsea man beat Gollini to the ball.
That seemed to shake Tottenham awake, and the next major chances came just after the half-hour mark. Unfortunately, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s deflected shot went just past the Chelsea post and Harry Kane was unable to make a decisive touch on Davinson Sanchez’s header from the subsequent corner.
Lucas Moura set Emerson Royal through on a beautiful breakaway, but the winger’s touch pushed him away from goal, making Kepa’s ultimate stop easy.
Spurs felt they had a lifeline on the stroke of half-time when goal-scorer Rudiger took down Hojbjerg on the edge of the area and referee Andre Marriner pointed to the spot. A VAR review, however, corrected this error, and Tottenham were instead awarded a free kick just outside the box.
After the break, Tottenham were handed another penalty kick after Kepa was (somehow) ruled to have fouled Lucas, but that call was one again reversed after a VAR review.
After Chelsea’s Spanish goalkeeper brilliantly stretched full-length to deny Emerson Royal’s towering header from a Ben Davies cross, he very nearly handed Spurs a lifeline when a stray pass to Jorginho resulted in the hosts winning the ball high up and Kane converting with Kepa stranded, but the England captain was standing in an offside position, and VAR once again soured the mood of the Tottenham faithful.
Chelsea’s place in the final was sealed after a lengthy period of stoppage time due to a medical issue in the Park Lane end of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
