London (AFP) – Chelsea provided the perfect response to manager Maurizio Sarri’s public criticism to progress to the League Cup final by beating Tottenham 4-2 on penalties in a thrilling semi-final, second leg on Thursday.
First-half goals from N’Golo Kante and Eden Hazard handed Chelsea a 2-1 win on the night to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit.
Willian, Cesar Azpilicueta, Jorginho and David Luiz then scored from the spot to send the Blues through to face Manchester City on February 24th, while Eric Dier and Lucas Moura missed for Spurs.
Sarri had questioned the mental strength of his squad and demanded Hazard to deliver more on his abundant potential in the wake of a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday, and the Italian got the response he desired against an injury-ravaged Spurs.
Kante levelled the tie with a shot from the edge of the box that went through three pairs of Spurs legs before Hazard rounded off an excellent team move to double Chelsea’s lead.
Fernando Llorente’s header hauled the visitors back into the tie five minutes into the second-half, but another chance for Spurs to win a first trophy under Mauricio Pochettino has now gone.
Spurs’ spirit could not be questioned as they battled to stay in the tie for 90 minutes despite the absence of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Son Heung-min, but it could prove a costly night for Pochettino’s men as Ben Davies and Moussa Sissoko added to their growing list of injuries.
Sarri has been criticised for persisting with Hazard in a centre-forward position of late and the decision to move the Belgian back to his prefered role on the left of a front three paid dividends.
Chelsea’s new number nine Gonzalo Higuain was presented to the home fans before kick-off, but the Argentine’s loan move from Juventus was not completed in time for him to feature so Olivier Giroud was handed a rare start as the focal point of the attack.
The hosts were dominant in the first 45 minutes with Tottenham struggling to mount a threat on the counter-attack due to the 33-year-old Llorente’s lack of pace.
However, Chelsea needed a slice of good fortune to open the scoring when Kante’s shot from the edge of the area when through Dier and Sissoko’s legs to leave Paulo Gazzaniga unsighted and the ball also nutmegged the Argentine goalkeeper.
Davies added to Spurs’ injury woes by limping off with a groin injury just after the half hour mark and five minutes later that latest blow was compounded by a Chelsea second.
from World Soccer Talk http://bit.ly/2TcSRgl
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