Antonio Conte speaks!
Jacob Steinberg on a bad night for Tottenham
David Hytner was our man at Stamford Bridge tonight. His report has landed. You know the drill: clickity click! Thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe and warm. Nighty night.
Antonio Conte talks to Sky. “It was a difficult game. From the start Chelsea showed to be much better than us. The first half we struggled a lot, but we know we are talking about one of the best teams in the world, and if you compare it to our team, there is no comparison. Today we have seen the difference between the two teams. It is not easy to play at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea won the ball every time. We also conceded unlucky goals and the game became very difficult. I know the situation, it is very clear, there is an important gap. We have to try to fight to stay in the league in a good position, but if we think we are close, we are not in the right way. There is a lot of job to do, there is a lot of situation to improve. We need time and patience. Everyone has to have patience. Tottenham in the last years, the level has dropped a lot, so now we have to fight to win every game. We have to be humble, and continue to work. It is not as simple as going to the transfer market. In the second leg, we will see what will happen. We have to try to change the situation slowly, slowly. It’s impossible to change it in one transfer market.”
Thomas Tuchel talks. “It seems like a deserved win, an excellent result. We could have scored even more but it is hard to score against a team like Tottenham. It is going to be a tough match, it’s not decided yet. We had a strong start and never lost focus. It was good.”
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Man of the match Hakim Ziyech speaks to Sky. “It was a good performance from the team. A really strong first half. Second was more up and down, but overall a good performance and we got the job done. We can be happy with 2-0 but there is still a game next week. We put pressure on them and didn’t give them space or time. The second half we could have killed the game more. We didn’t, but that’s still 2-0. Hopefully we can keep performing like this.”
FULL TIME: Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Advantage Chelsea ahead of next week’s second leg in north London. A thoroughly deserved win against opponents who were, in the main, awful.
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90 min +4: So nearly the dream goal for Chelsea, as Werner flicks to Lukaku, just inside the Spurs box. Lukaku sends his shot straight at Lloris. That could have been the tie, plus redemption for the big man.
90 min +3: Loftus-Cheek rolls Pulisic into acres down the right. Pulisic, under no pressure whatsoever, skies a cross over the box and away from danger. He had options in the middle, too.
90 min +2: Hakim Ziyech is named as Sky’s man of the match.
90 min +1: Chelsea knock it around to pantomime cheers.
90 min: There will be four added minutes.
89 min: Azpilicueta is down, having tweaked his hamstring by the looks of things. He’s not going to be able to continue. Off he hobbles. He’s replaced by 18-year-old Harvey Vale, making his Chelsea debut.
88 min: Gil skins Pulisic down the left and reaches the byline. He cuts back for Lo Celso, whose shot is blocked. Ndombele can’t force the rebound home from six yards. So close to a barely deserved lifeline for Spurs!
86 min: Alonso artlessly clumps the free kick straight into the Spurs wall.
85 min: Davies clumsily clatters Pulisic, just to the right of the Spurs D. A daft foul to make in a dangerous position.
83 min: A little bit of space for Ndombele down the right. He reaches the byline and juggles the ball around, eventually losing control and allowing it to roll to Kepa. This is as good as Tottenham have been all evening, though Kepa still hasn’t had a serious save to make.
81 min: A free kick for Spurs out on the right. Lo Celso curls it towards the near post. Tanganga sends a header over the bar. A decent chance goes begging.
80 min: Spurs make a double change. Off go Son and Moura, on come Lo Celso and Gil.
79 min: Pulisic comes on for Ziyech, who was rubbing his back gingerly a couple of minutes ago.
77 min: Suddenly they come to life, stepping it up, Alonso crossing long from the left, Ziyech hoicking a volley well over the bar. What a picture that would have been had he caught it right.
76 min: Chelsea stroke it around in the imperious style.
74 min: Ziyech sends Loftus-Cheek into the Spurs box on the right. Loftus-Cheek reaches the byline but can’t find anyone with his cutback. An immediate assist would have been some way to begin his 100th appearance for the club, but it wasn’t to be.
73 min: Kovacic, the hero against Liverpool on Sunday, replaces Mount, while Saul makes way for Loftus-Cheek. Spurs respond by swapping out Skipp for Winks.
72 min: ... nothing. The ball’s all the way back at Kepa’s feet within seconds.
71 min: Lukaku wins a corner down the right off Davies. And from that ...
70 min: Spurs enjoy a period of sustained possession. They’ve improved since the break, though admittedly the bar wasn’t set particularly high.
68 min: Royal crosses from the right. Moura attempts the spectacular, hooking a first-time volley from the edge of the box. It’s not a million miles away, despite the ball coming off his shin. Just over.
66 min: Ziyech, quarterbacking from a deep position on the right, plays a glorious diagonal pass to find Werner, clear in acres in the middle! Werner opts to chip Lloris, but doesn’t get enough on the ball to beat the well-positioned keeper, who plucks from the sky at the edge of the box. That could have pretty much wrapped up this semi-final with one-and-a-quarter legs still to go.
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65 min: Alonso gifts the ball to Moura, who sends Royal loping down the right. There are options in the middle, but Royal can’t beat the first man. That first man? Alonso, getting back to clear up his own mess.
63 min: Kane is good to continue.
62 min: Sarr is booked for swinging an arm into Kane’s jaw. It didn’t look intentional. The Spurs captain stays face down on the turf. “Re: the last couple of reader posts. Is this what they mean by the Guardian’s anti-Royal bias?” Peter Oh, ladies and gentleman. He’s here all week. Try the quarter-pounder with cheese.
61 min: Werner cuts in from the left and curls powerfully towards the top right. Inches wide. Had that been on target, it was in, because Lloris was rooted to the spot.
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60 min: Moura crosses deep from the right. Ndombele has a couple of goes at chesting down, with a view to blootering goalwards, but can’t quite get the ball under control. He’s been lively since coming on, especially in the context of this otherwise flat Spurs performance.
58 min: Unfortunately for Spurs, that next goal looks much more likely to be scored by Chelsea. Werner has a whack from the edge of the box. Blocked. Then Ziyech curls in low from the right; Saul flicks wide right from a tight angle, six yards out.
56 min: Chelsea continue to stroke it around. Tottenham’s early second-half flourish, such as it was, appears over already. Here’s Yash Gupta again: “If Royal is hopeless, then what is Matt Doherty?” Let’s be kind and end this riff now - and remember, folks, the next goal could change everything.
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54 min: Ndombele picks up possession just to the right of the Chelsea D. He sends a shot deep into the Shed. Not great, but still better than most of what’s gone before for Tottenham. “Emerson Royal is another of the second-rate signings a la Bergwijn,” writes Foderoy, letting it all out in the latest edition of Instant Spurs Catharsis. “All of the crossing skills of Wan Bissaka with none of the defensive prowess”
53 min: Lukaku slips Ziyech into all sorts of space down the inside-right channel. Ziyech opens his body with a view to steering a curler into the bottom left. He gets it all wrong and it’s an easy claim for Lloris.
52 min: Lukaku hooks a lame shot goalwards from 20 yards. Easy for Lloris. Meanwhile, anyone for more Spurs unhappiness? Here’s Paul Durdin! “So far you and the readers have blamed Tanganga, Hojbjerg, Davies, Sanchez. Are you all blind? Emerson Royal is completely hopeless! Surely is a hoax? There is no way he is a footballer.”
51 min: Son drives towards the Chelsea box but is unceremoniously upended by a good old-fashioned slide tackle from Saul. No quarter given there.
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49 min: Kane fizzes the free kick towards the bottom left. Kepa is behind it all the way and solidly parries clear.
48 min: Ndombele dribbles down the inside-right channel and is dragged back by Sarr. Free kick, just to the right of the D. Spurs have notably upped their pace of play, having presumably been given the what-for by Conte, and no wonder. “That’s one of the worst halves by a Spurs team for years,” writes Arthur Tee. “They did absolutely nothing right except stand in the way once or twice.”
47 min: Havertz clearly hadn’t recovered from that whack upside the head, then. On that subject, here’s JR in Illinois: “The reason Havertz was groggy in the 41st minute was that just before the Lukaku miss Kane ran up to Havertz from behind just as Havertz completed a long crossfield pass to Ziyech and purposely brained him with a shoulder/elbow to the head. It was really dirty. Like red card dirty. If you get a chance check it out again. The announcers completely missed it.”
Chelsea get the second half underway. They’ve replaced Havertz with Werner, while Spurs have changed to four at the back, replacing Doherty with Ndombele.
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HALF-TIME POSTBAG: Spurs misery special. “Why can no one see that Hojberg is part of the problem? He is clearly implicated in both goals. For the first rather than play a simple quick ball forward to Doherty, he plays it back. For the second, his error undid the great work by Dav covering Lukaku. His attempted clearance off Skipp almost caused another in between those two. Get him off and bring in Ndombele or Lo Celso” - Niall Sheerin.
“We fans always like to big up a player, especially when the player is from academy. But apart from his performance against Manchester City, where another ref would surely have booked him early, Tanganga has been pretty average. For a player who made his debut two years ago, he doesn’t have any defensive awareness and is way more physical in tackles. He badly needs a loan otherwise we have another KWP scenario” - Yash Gupta.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs have only won once in their last 35 visits to Stamford Bridge. They’ve got a job on if they’re to make it two in 36. Chelsea are in complete control.
45 min: Just the one extra minute.
44 min: Azpilicueta has a whack from distance. Nope.
43 min: Mount turns Skipp and is dragged back by the shirt. Skipp should go in the book, but for some reason doesn’t. He’s already had a lecture from the referee for clipping Jorginho, so he’s surely one foul away from a yellow now.
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42 min: Havertz has taken a whack upside the head, but is able to continue for now.
41 min: Ziyech floats in from the right wing and curls a cross towards Lukaku, who rises majestically above Sanchez, ten yards out. His header is weak, though, brushing his forehead and sailing harmlessly wide left. He should have at least hit the target; it could have easily been three.
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39 min: Son feeds Royal down the right. Royal crosses deep. Doherty heads back across goal. Kepa gathers but fumbles the ball, Moura clanking into him. The ball hits Moura’s arm, and that’s the end of that. Better from Spurs, though. Small acorns.
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37 min: Stamford Bridge is bouncing as a result of that farce. Spurs are being thoroughly outplayed here. They could do with hearing the half-time whistle.
35 min: Not entirely sure why Tanganga elected to head sideways rather than back upfield, but there we have it. He’s had a complete shocker so far, his mistakes leading to both goals.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Davies og 34)
Ziyech swings it in. Tanganga, on the six yard line, sends a header across the face of goal. The ball pings off the unwitting Davies and into the top right. What a fiasco.
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34 min: Lukaku twists and turns down the right, earning a free kick off Sanchez, who taps his heel. A free kick just outside the Spurs box in a very dangerous position. Everyone lines up just inside the area, and ...
33 min: Spurs half-clear the corner. Mount curls in low and hard from the right. Lloris smothers bravely. Spurs are hanging on.
32 min: Havertz runs at Tanganga down the left and wins a corner. Ziyech hits it long, finding Rudiger free on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Tanganga does extremely well to get his body in the way of the resulting shot. Corner.
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30 min: Ziyech curls in from the left. Havertz prepares to head home at the far stick, but Doherty does enough to eyebrow away from danger, just in time.
28 min: Jorginho swings in from the right. Lukaku hopes to head goalwards, but Lloris comes out and punches clear. Not the most convincing clearance, but it does the job.
27 min: Chelsea stroke it around for a bit. They’re in complete control.
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25 min: A free kick for Spurs out on the right touchline. Everyone lines up on the edge of the box. Royal and Son combine down the wing and win Tottenham’s first corner of the evening. Son takes. Chelsea clear and break upfield. With Spurs light at the back, Lukaku runs clumsily out of play on the right, and the danger is over.
24 min: Kane nearly releases Doherty down the left with a raking diagonal pass. Ziyech, momentarily caught out of position, picks up his legs and intercepts just in time. For a second, Spurs had a sniff.
23 min: Alonso creams a long pass down the left in the hope of releasing Mount into the area. Too strong. Goal kick. Chelsea’s possession stat in the last five minutes: 81 percent.
21 min: Royal tries to find Kane in the Chelsea box with a sliderule pass down the inside-right channel, but clanks the ball straight through to Kepa. It’s the best they’ve managed up to this point.
20 min: A slight lull. Spurs will take it. They’ve been run ragged so far.
18 min: Ziyech has a speculative dig from 25 yards. He aims towards the top left but it’s always sailing high and wide.
16 min: From the corner, there’s a half-chance for Jorginho to take aim, but the window of opportunity quickly slams shut. Chelsea have enjoyed 63 percent of possession so far. It feels like 83.
15 min: Ziyech buzzes down the right, cuts inside, then rolls a pass to tee up Mount, whose long-range effort is deflected out for a corner. Ziyech to swing it in from the left.
14 min: Chelsea’s press is too much for Spurs right now. They’re first to everything, and forcing errors. At the moment, the visitors need to hang on in there. Right now, a second goal for Chelsea looks very much on the cards.
12 min: Hojbjerg’s attempted hoof upfield slams into the back of Skipp, and breaks to Havertz, just inside the box. Havertz has more time than he realises, and should probably score, but takes a first-time swipe, sending a weak shot towards the bottom left, Lloris able to parry then claim.
10 min: Moura piles down the right, drifts infield, and attempts to slip Son clear down the middle. It’s not the worst idea, but it’s well anticipated by Azpilicueta, who nips in to nix the attack.
8 min: Kane tries to get something going for Spurs, but is quickly surrounded by blue shirts and stripped of possession. Nothing going right for the visitors in these early exchanges.
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7 min: Havertz hurt his hand while slotting that one away, but after the doc gives him the once-over, he’s good to continue.
6 min: Havertz has been credited with the goal, so that’s some good news for Sanchez at least.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Havertz 5)
Tanganga’s weak pass wide right is intercepted by Alonso, who slips Havertz into the box. Havertz takes a touch and looks to shoot across Lloris and into the bottom right. It’s on target (I think) but helped in anyway by Sanchez. It had been coming, but what a defensive error by Tanganga.
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4 min: Kane is this close to closing down Kepa, who dallies with the ball at his feet. The keeper clears his lines just in time.
3 min: Chelsea probe down both flanks. Pass, pass, pass. Eventually Mount is teed up, 25 yards out, though his shot is blocked. Spurs have hardly taken a touch yet.
2 min: Free kick for Chelsea out on the right. Mount takes, but whips it over the head of every single player in the box. A fast start by the hosts, though.
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1 min: A mere 20 seconds in, Lukaku bombs down the right and reaches the area. He should have a dig, but unselfishly lays off to Havertz. The pass rolls behind his team-mate and away. What a story of redemption that could have been!
Spurs get the match underway ... but only after the knee is taken. A gesture met by warm applause. There’s no room for racism.
No pre-match patter from Antonio Conte, but never mind that, because here come the teams! Chelsea in royal blue, Spurs in lily white. An atmosphere dripping with rich derby goodness. More than 12,000 of the crowd are in the brand-spanking-new safe-standing places, making a rare old row. Conte slips into the away dugout almost completely unnoticed. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!
This semi-final is a rematch of the 2008 and 2015 finals. Click below for inconsistently headlined retro MBM bliss.
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Thomas Tuchel talks to Sky Sports. “I am happy Romelu Lukaku is on the pitch today. We can listen to the interview 100 times, but it will not make it better. But we can shift our focus, we accept it happened, he accepts it happened, and we can move on. We will protect him now and push him, because he is our player, he wants to be and we want him to be a key player. Now we move on.” He also reports that N’Golo Kante and Thiago Silva have tested positive for Covid.
Chelsea make six changes to their starting XI in the wake of the 2-2 draw with Liverpool, Romelu Lukaku now back in favour after that interview. Kepa, Malang Sarr, Jorginho, Saul Niguez and Hakim Ziyech also step up; Edouard Mendy, Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic make way.
Spurs make two swaps after the one-goal win at Watford. Japhet Tanganga and Matt Doherty replace Sergio Reguilon and Eric Dier.
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The teams
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Sarr, Rudiger, Alonso, Saul, Jorginho, Ziyech, Havertz, Mount, Lukaku.
Subs: Kovacic, Pulisic, Werner, Loftus-Cheek, Bettinelli, Barkley, Hudson-Odoi, Vale, Hall.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies, Emerson, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Doherty, Lucas Moura, Kane, Son.
Subs: Reguilon, Winks, Gil Salvatierra, Rodon, Lo Celso, Alli, Gollini, Ndombele, Austin.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
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Preamble
Pick a narrative, folks! Antonio Conte returns to his old stomping ground. Romelu Lukaku returns after apologising for Interviewgate. Spurs continue their search for a first trophy in 14 years. Chelsea continue their search for a first trophy in seven months. Chelsea and Spurs are London rivals who don’t like each other very much. All fit the bill, so perm as many as you like. Kick off of this League Cup semi-final first leg is at 7.45pm GMT; unlike tomorrow night’s game between Arsenal and Liverpool, this one is very much ON. It’s on!
