Chelsea takes a 2-0 lead into the second leg of the League Cup semifinal at New Three Point Lane, where we've won three of the league's three games since its inception. Last season, we were knocked out of the League Cup on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the fourth round. Only if we lose by two goals will the second leg go to penalties (no away goals counted). Tuchel has only lost one game by two or more goals during his Chelsea stint, a bizarre 5-2 loss to relegation-bound West Brom last season.
Photo courtesy of PA Images/John Walton via Getty Images
Of course, none of this ensures victory or advancement, and it may even contribute to the complacency that Tuchel warned against in his pre-match press conference. Tuchel, on the other hand, has yet to lost a semifinal in his career (DFB-Pokal twice, three French domestic cups, FA Cup, Champions League twice), so you can bet he'll have everyone prepared and ready to give it their all — even if all good things must come to an end at some point.
The players will be responsible for the rest in order to keep the good times rolling.
Wednesday, January 12, 2022, at 19:45 GMT; 2:45pm EST; 1:15am IST (next day)
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, United Kingdom
Andre Marriner (on the field); Mike Dean (VAR) — If you believe in or care about such things, Marriner is almost as awful an omen as Dean. We've only won two of our last eight games under him, one of which being a 1-0 win here last season (Jorginho converting Werner's penalty) and the other a 2-0 win against Brentford in the previous round of the League Cup. But, to me, Marriner will always be remembered as the man who sent off the incorrect man in our 6-0 victory over Arsenal. Classic!
The weather is expected to be cold.
On television: Sky Sports Main Event (UK); none (USA); none (India); SuperSport Grandstand (NGA); elsewhere.
Sky Go (United Kingdom); ESPN+ (United States); JioTV? Voot? (India); DStv Now (NGA) – for those in the United States, I recommend switching to the Spanish language broadcast because ESPN+ seems to have difficulty with the English feed. They're more enjoyable in any case.
AMA/Getty Images photo by James Williamson
Tottenham Hotspur's latest team news is as follows:
After the first leg defeat, Antonio Conte slammed his squad, arguing that it revealed a huge talent and ambition disparity between the two teams. And that talent gap isn't going to get any smaller, with Son Heung-min ruled out due to injury, and none of Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, or Steven Bergwijn appearing to be fit enough to play.
Conte's first defeat in domestic competition since taking over at Spurs came in the first leg, but they came close to making it two from two in the FA Cup over the weekend against unfancied Morecambe. They were trailing against third-tier strugglers Morecambe until three goals from Harry Winks, Harry Kane, and Not-Harry Moura saved their blushes in the 73rd minute.
Spurs' next game is a North London Derby against Arsenal, followed by road games against Leicester City and Chelsea (again! ), all of which will put their top-six credentials to the test.
Chelsea FC photo courtesy of Darren Walsh/Getty Images
News from the Chelsea team: N'Golo Kanté and Thiago Silva returned to training yesterday after a week of isolation, but they won't be risked for this game, especially with Manchester City away on Saturday noon. We have no acute injury worries at the moment, except from our long-term absentees Ben Chilwell (ACL), Reece James (hamstring), Trevoh Chalobah (hamstring), and Édouard Mendy (AFCON), though fatigue and overload remain a very real problem.
Most of the youth players, including Harvey Vale, Lewis Baker, Xavier Simons, Charlie Webster, Jude Soonsup-Bell, and Xavier Mbuyamba, who was sent off in the first half, were featured in last night's 4-1 defeat in the EFL Trophy Round of 16. Lewis Hall, our Man of the Match on Saturday, was one player who was not involved.
Previously: The good guys were up 2-0 this time last week, and it should've been a lot more.
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