Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Chelsea, League Cup semifinal: Post-match reaction, ratings

Thomas Tuchel warned against complacency ahead of this game, with Chelsea carrying a 2-0 lead coming in, and fortunately the players heeded his warning very well, putting together another excellent and dominant first half, complete with a goal and just a moment or two of danger.

One of those moments did need some intervention from VAR, with Rüdiger initially called for a foul in the area, but shown on replay to have committed his foul just outside of it. And it was all coming up roses for Toni, who had earlier opened the scoring from a corner, taking advantage of a misplay by Spurs goalkeeper Gollini.

The second half began in much the similar fashion, with Chelsea largely in control, until a turnover at the back created a 3-v-1, which at first resulted in a penalty called on Kepa for a tackle on Lucas. It looked a clean tackle, and indeed was, with the call overturned after another brief review.

Spurs then did have the ball in the back of the net, but VAR again made a positive impact, showing that Kane had been offside on the pass (Kepa had stepped up to put him off with a defender dropping deep after a turnover).

Chelsea then switched to a back-three to try to gain control of the game again, adding Kanté to the proceedings for the final 15 as well to help lock things down.

And, after a brief stoppage for a medical emergency in the crowd, that’s how it would end, 1-0 on the night, 3-0 on aggregate.

Carefree.

• More pre-match mystery about the lineup, with good cause as it turned out to be a back-four in possession (a narrow 4-2-2-2 if you will, with Lukaku & Werner up top, Mount & CHO supporting, Kovacic & Jorginho holding), morphing to a back-five without the ball with Hudson-Odoi tracking back on the left wing.
• Switch back to a 3-4-3 halfway through the second half, with Sarr-Silva-Rüdiger across the back and Alonso and Azpilicueta as the wing-backs.
• Liverpool and Arsenal set to start playing their two-legged semifinal just tomorrow, with the second leg to follow next week
• 11 in a row unbeaten and just 1 defeat in 24 now
• Next up for us: showdown against Manchester City on Saturday noon
• KTBFFH

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