Spurs vs Chelsea Odds: Pair of tips for Carabao Cup semi-final second leg

Chelsea make the short trip to North London for the second leg of their semi-final tie with Tottenham Hotspur, live on Sky Sports Football, with the winner booking a place in the final of the Carabao Cup.

The Blues dominated the first leg at Stamford Bridge, controlling the game quite comfortably, on the way to a 2-0 win that put them in a commanding position in the tie.

Thomas Tuchel’s side, without several of their regular starters, made light work of Spurs just six days ago and will know that all they really have to do is avoid defeat to book themselves another trip to Wembley - a feat they’ve managed in each of the last nine meetings between the two sides.

In fact, it’s even easier than that for the visitors. To qualify for the final inside 90 minutes Spurs have to win by three clear goals, which is something they haven’t managed against Chelsea since 2002.

There have been 51 games between the two since then. In short, the recent history of this fixture doesn’t make for enjoyable reading for Spurs fans. 

It’s not as if they’re performing very well at the minute either, as a lacklustre performance against League One side Morecambe showed on Sunday.

Antonio Conte’s side trailed to the Shrimps until the 74th minute of that game, as their heavily rotated XI was unable to get the job done without the introductions of Harry Kane and Lucas Moura - who both found the scoresheet in the final five minutes.

The Italian has breathed fresh air into this squad since his arrival in early November but there’s only so much he can do with the squad that Jose Mourinho and Nuno Espirito Santo left him to deal with, as evidenced by the Tanguy Ndombele debacle last weekend.

Failing to make an impression against the lower league side the Frenchman was hauled off with 20 minutes left but, rather than quickly vacate the pitch to afford his teammates as much time as possible to avoid embarrassment, he sauntered off the field and straight down the tunnel to a chorus of boos from the home crowd.

The blasé nature of his exit was made to look even more embarrassing by Bryan Gil racing off behind him and likely spells the end of a lacklustre two-and-a-half years at the club he joined for £60m in 2019.

The scene was akin to the ill-fainted tantrum Hossem Ghaly threw when he was substituted back in 2007, throwing his shirt to the ground and subsequently turning his own fans against him - he never played for Spurs again.

Ndombele not featuring probably isn’t bad news for the home side, though the absence of Son Heung-min certainly will be.

The South Korean forward was substituted during the first leg with an injury that will see him miss at least the rest of January. He’s been involved in more than twice as many goals as the next closest player, and replacing his creativity has to be Conte’s priority.

He will potentially look to Steven Bergwijn to fill that gap alongside Kane and Lucas, though he hasn’t featured since picking up an injury on Boxing Day against Crystal Palace and is rumoured to be on his way out of the club.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Romero is still sidelined with the injury he sustained on international duty in November though Eric Dier may have recovered from his cacophony of illnesses in time to feature.

For the visitors, N’Golo Kante and Thiago Silva could be available after missing time with COVID-19 though both will be last-minute decisions.

They’re without trio of defenders Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, and Ben Chilwell who all miss out with injuries whilst goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is at the African Cup of Nations.

As good a manager as Antonio Conte is, there is only so far he can take this Tottenham Hotspur squad and without arguably his best player in Son Heung-min, he faces an uphill battle here.

Tuchel has lost only two of the 18 knockout cup games he’s taken charge of at Chelsea, and has 2nd leg wins over Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid under his belt in the last 12 months, while the Blues are unbeaten in each of the last nine meetings between the two sides.

Given their 2-0 first leg lead, the visitors can afford to sit back in the first half and then pick a desperate Spurs side off on the counter in the second half.

Spurs didn’t pick up a single card in the first leg between the sides but that wasn’t for want of trying, especially on behalf of Ben Davies.

The makeshift centre-back committed four fouls in the sides’ first meeting and was extremely lucky that Craig Pawson was feeling generous on the night.

It’s likely that he might have to deal with the tricky Hakim Ziyech again and with everything on the line for Spurs here, there’s a chance he finds himself in trouble with referee Andre Marriner.

2022 P/L: +0pts