Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 (5-4 p/k) Chelsea, League Cup: Post-match reaction

Chelsea started well and controlled the vast majority of the first-half, at one point having upwards of 75% possession. And while Spurs looked comfortable with that most of the time, keeping Chelsea confined to passing side-to-side in non-threatening areas, Chelsea did find the opener from a very nice play by Azpilicueta out wide and even nicer finish by Werner from the top of the box.

Spurs grew into the game as the half wore on, but some stellar last-ditch defending from Zouma and a nice first save in Chelsea colors from Mendy kept the scoreline at 1-0 at the half.

The second half was a much more even affair, with Mendy called into action repeatedly and making a couple very nice saves early in the half to maintain Chelsea’s slim advantage.

Chelsea withstood the early press and then missed a couple excellent chances to double our lead, which would eventually come back to haunt us, when a couple missed headers and a missed marking assignment left Lamela all alone five yards out to finish easily in the last ten minutes.

Neither team created much after that, and so we went straight to penalties, where the first 9 were scored but the tenth wasn’t, and Spurs won.

Done with the League Cup for this year.

Carefree.

• Rotation, rotation, rotation — except for Mount, who’s now started every match of the season. Werner out wide left against Spurs’ 3-4-3.
• First ever starts for Mendy, Chilwell. First start of the season for Giroud.
• Subs of Emerson for Chilwell (who presumably was never going to play more than an hour), Kante for Kovacic, and Abraham for Giroud.
• Spurs penalties (5-of-5): Dier, Lamela, Hojbjerg, Lucas, Kane
• Chelsea penalties (4-of-5): Abraham, Azplicueta, Jorginho, Emerson, Mount MISS
• Whoever was in control of the fake crowd noise needs to dial it back next time. 90 minutes of ‘Spurs marching in’ and ‘Come on you Spurs’ blasting was just a bit too much.
• Lampard fashion watch: jumper and cargo pants. Very Pep-y. The suit has been shelved after the weekend’s calamity, which follows the suit’s only other appearance, the 0-4 defeat at Manchester United last season. Back to the tracksuit then?
• Next up: Crystal Palace at home on Saturday.
• KTBFFH

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