John Terry, this time justifiably in full kit, and Didier Drogba lift the trophy to huge roars from the Chelsea fans. Mourinho is pleased. Everyone’s pleased. Except for Tottenham Hotspur fans. But it’s Chelsea’s day. Thanks for reading. Bye.
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Chart nonsense pumps out around the stadium as Chelsea’s players walk up to the Royal Box to collect the trophy. It really is the only way to celebrate winning a football match.
The Tottenham players have collected their loser’s medals. Most of their fans have disappeared.
After a quick phone call, presumably to his wife, Jose Mourinho is on the pitch to celebrate with his players. It’s his first trophy since he won the Spanish Super Cup in 2012.
“That’s the first one, it’s massive,” says John Terry. “I thought we played very well.”
It wasn’t a great performance from Chelsea, but it was a ruthless one, and it shows why they are the best side in the England. They lacked fluency, yes, and they conceded possession for long periods, but they had a plan and ultimately they were far too professional and ruthless for a good Tottenham Hotspur side.
Chelsea’s players are jumping and down in the middle of the pitch. They have their first trophy of the season. Will there be more to follow?
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Full-time: Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur; Chelsea have won the League Cup!
It’s all over! The trophy is Chelsea’s!
90 min+4: Tottenham win one last corner. They do not score from it. Mourinho is pumping his fists already and hugging Rui Faria. And...
90 min+3: A Chelsea legend replaces a Chelsea legend in the making. Didier Drogba is on, Diego Costa is off. A grinning Drogba applauds Costa off.
90 min+1: A loose ball breaks to Kane. He scuttles into the area, but Cahill sticks out a leg to concede a corner, from which nothing of any importance occurs.
90 min: There will be four added minutes.
89 min: Soldado slides a lovely cross into the area, but Ivanovic turns it behind before a Spurs player can reach the ball for a tap-in. Chelsea will not be breached. This has been a defensive masterclass.
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88 min: Oscar replaces Cesc Fabregas.
87 min: At long last, a sight of goal for Harry Kane. He dribbled past Cahill and looked certain to score, only for Terry to throw himself in front of the shot and deflect it wide. Brilliant defending.
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85 min: Jose Mourinho is getting ready for his victory jig. First, however, a booking for Cuadrado after a Colombian clattering on Rose.
83 min: Chelsea are going to win a cup today and Manchester City lost earlier. They have had worse days.
80 min: Roberto Soldado replaces Nacer Chadli. Meanwhile, did Lamela catch Costa with an elbow just now? Possibly.
79 min: Kane Kanes down the right flank, evading a challenge from Fabregas, and bounces a brilliant cross into the Chelsea area. Chadli, at the far post, can’t get on the end of it.
78 min: Bentaleb’s booked for fouling Cuadrado.
76 min: Before that can be taken, Chelsea bring on Juan Cuadrado for Willian. Azpilicueta, meanwhile, is still having his head bandaged. He’s eventually allowed back on before the corner can be taken. Eriksen curls it in and Kane, whose shot was being pulled by Ivanovic, glances wide, Lamela unable to get a touch on it at the far post.
75 min: With Chelsea down to 10 men momentarily, Tottenham are upping the pressure and Chadli is able to win a corner on the left.
74 min: Cesar Azpilicueta is bleeding from his head after that aerial challenge with Dier, whose knee caught the Chelsea left-back.
73 min: Eriksen floats the free-kick to the far post, but the flag goes up for offside against Dier. Tottenham have lost any semblance of conviction about their attacks.
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72 min: Harry Kane shrugs off Cahill and turns, only for the Chelsea defender to bring him down 30 yards from goal. Cahill’s booked.
71 min: Erik Lamela replaces Ryan Mason. “In Argentina someone who is standing around looking a bit miserable and dejected is called a ‘pollo mojado’ or wet chicken,” Andy Gordon reveals. “Right now Pochettino is perfecting that look.”
70 min: Willian’s booked for a clip on Rose.
68 min: Pochettino is soaked. He’s wiping himself down with a towel. Just what he needs. Of course, no manager can stand under an umbrella at Wembley.
67 min: Willian takes everyone by surprise by knocking the free-kick to Hazard on the left. He curls a cross to the far post, where Fabregas steals in to head just wide.
66 min: Tottenham have completely gone. It’s all Chelsea. Hazard has a shot blocked from inside the area, then Willian wins a free-kick on the right, in a similar position to where Chelsea opened the scoring.
64 min: Hazard dribbles into the area and shapes one towards the far corner from the left. His curler drops just wide. Lloris was beaten. It’s now tipping down inside Wembley.
63 min: Costa wins a corner on the left. Chelsea want more.
62 min: Tottenham make their first change, the ineffective Andros “Dross” Townsend replaced by Mousa “Moussa” Dembele.
60 min: Bentaleb whistles a shot well over the top from 25 yards.
58 min: Well, Tottenham did come back from 2-0 down against West Ham last week. But West Ham aren’t quite in Chelsea’s class.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Walker own goal, 56 min)
Cesc Fabregas has been quiet. Diego Costa has been quiet. But now they’ve combined to establish a commanding 2-0 lead for Chelsea. They only need a moment to change a game. Fabregas slid a pass to Costa on the left of the area. He shifted the ball on to his left foot and although the angle was tight, he shot anyway. It looked like the ball was going wide, but it hit Walker and flew past Lloris. Chelsea are in complete control now.
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53 min: Tottenham are yet to offer much in the final third since going behind. Chelsea are looking comfortable. They like defending.
51 min: How much does Jose Mourinho hate Sky? He’s just turned round, grinned and squirted some water at one of their cameras.
50 min: What an effort from Cesc Fabregas! The corner was headed into the air and Fabregas took it on his chest on the edge of the area and then, with his back to goal, he produced a wonderful overhead kick towards the bottom-left corner. Lloris, however, was alert and pushed it away.
49 min: Hazard isolates Walker on the left and pushes the Tottenham right-back into the area. He drives a cross into the six-yard box and Dier has to turn it behind for a corner.
47 min: Rose pings a hard, low cross into the six-yard box. Kane’s sniffing about, but it’s Cech’s ball.
46 min: Here we go again. Both sides are unchanged. Can Tottenham find a way back into this final?
Eric Dier is perhaps a little lucky to still be on. He caught Costa on the shin just before the half-time whistle and could have been picked up a second booking. Is it a conspiracy?
Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Winning is all that matters.
45 min+2: Chelsea almost double their lead! A corner from the left is sent to the far post. Ivanovic heads it back and Cahill’s header is saved by Lloris. That’s a vital save.
45 min+1: There will be two minutes of stoppage time.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Terry, 45 min)
They can! Willian flung the free-kick into the six-yard box and it was only headed away as far as John Terry. Twelve yards out, the Chelsea captain drilled a low shot goalwards and it flicked off Eric Dier and past Hugo Lloris. Chelsea haven’t been at their best, but they have the lead in the final! Do they deserve it? It doesn’t matter. They won’t care.
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44 min: Chadli allows a ball to drop over his head, panics and pulls Ivanovic back on the right. Can Chelsea take advantage just before half-time?
42 min: Walker has limped off for the time being, but it seems he’s going to try and shake it off. In fact, he’s back on now.
41 min: A problem for Tottenham: Kyle Walker is down with a leg injury and might have to come off. Federico Fazio is warming up.
40 min: Anything Chadli can do, Mason can do even worse.
38 min: Chadli wafts one into the top tier from 25 yards.
36 min: Bentaleb and Rose combine to set up Eriksen for a shooting chance in the Chelsea area. He manages to thread a sneaky shot through Zouma’s legs, but Cech has it covered at his near post.
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35 min: Eriksen lofts a pass into the area. Willian tries to shepherd it out, but Walker forces him to concede a corner. But Tottenham take it short and make a mess of it, allowing Chelsea to counter. Fortunately for Chelsea, Rose is able to cut out the danger.
34 min: After a bright start, this match is stagnating. It’s been too stop-start.
31 min: Eric Dier’s booked after diving in and going through Costa from behind. He can have no complaints. “Thinking of the longer game, would it be better for Spurs to win here or to lose, in terms of their chances of pushing for Champions’ League qualification?” wonders David Wall. “We can be pretty sure that Chelsea’s attitude to the rest of the season won’t be effected either way (Mourinho’s track record is good evidence of that), but the last time Spurs won this trophy they (metaphorically) went straight from the celebration drinks to the airport for holidays on the beach and didn’t come back. As we were regularly reminded by his successor, they barely won another point in the rest of the season, and the start of the following one and it cost Ramos his job. Not suggesting that things would be so drastic again, but their league form has dropped off recently (celebrating victory in the North London derby?), and they might have a better chance of making fourth place if they are stung by a defeat here.”
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30 min: The entertainment level has dropped. Chelsea are playing quite a defensive game at the moment.
28 min: Diego Costa is making friends again, this time after a tussle with Nabil Bentaleb, who’s not happy about what the Chelsea striker’s doing with his arms. He certainly put his hand in Bentaleb’s face. Moments later, Walker fouls Costa and the two of them bump chests. Eight more Tottenham players to have a row with and Costa will have the full set.
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26 min: Cesc Fabregas hasn’t offered much yet. You get the feeling that Chelsea are being forced to rely too much on Hazard to provide the spark. “It’s been a fairly composed start from both teams, though Spurs look slightly more dangerous in possession,” says Dante Danger. “I don’t see ivanvic and azpilicueta getting too far forward given how defensively Mourinho has set the team up with 3 centre backs. At the moment all of Chelsea’s attacking outlet has come through hazard and fabregas has been anonymous.”
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24 min: Tottenham are seeing more of the ball at the moment. Kyle Walker takes on Cesar Azpilicueta and crosses, but his delivery is poor.
23 min: Chelsea break and Willian rakes a glorious, deep pass from right to left for Hazard. He takes it in his stride, cuts back on to his right foot and shoots from 15 yards; it’s blocked. But Tottenham were opened up very easily there.
22 min: We are experiencing a lull. “I do wonder what managers write down during the match,” says Mike Mackenzie. “Does Jose reference the minutes for each crucial incident that the ref got wrong? Does Rodgers note that Lovren still hasn’t learned how to communicate with Mignolet? When Rafa was at Liverpool it seemed that his note-taking was so extensive that he missed a lot of the game. Much like me writing this diatribe ...”
20 min: Danny Rose takes a pass adroitly on his chest, surviving a claim of handball from the Chelsea players, and then runs at the Chelsea defence at supreme pace. He scoots down the outside but has a rush of blood to the head and drags a wasteful shot wide.
19 min: Willian’s free-kick is deflected away by the wall and then Cahill takes a lump out of Rose as he boots the ball clear.
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17 min: Hazard toys with the ball just outside the Tottenham area and lures Rose into fouling him. Hazard needs a bit of treatment.
15 min: Jose Mourinho is writing something down. Probably just telling his diary how much he likes Harry Kane.
13 min: Eriksen bursts into the area. His shot is blocked. Here’s Mason.He shoots. Blocked. Tottenham are getting into their stride. But here comes the Chelsea counter. Costa drives inside from the left and tees up Hazard, who curls one wide from 18 yards. This is starting to open up nicely.
11 min: Is this going to be known as The Harry Kane final? The Tottenham wonderkid, the legend, motors away from those gasping Chelsea defenders again, making his way towards the area, and he has a dig from 20 yards. It’s on target, but Cech is down well to deny him. Kane is showing no fear.
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10 min: Eriksen missiles the ball over the wall with his right foot and thuds it against the bar! Petr Cech looked beaten, but it just didn’t dip in time, and the ball bounces away to safety. Chelsea could probably do without conceding free-kicks in Christian Eriksen Territory.
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9 min: Harry Kane bustles in from the left, neat footwork taking him away from Willian, and he’s eventually brought down clumsily by Zouma. Tottenham have a free-kick 25 yards from goal, in an area that we must term Christian Eriksen Territory. You can only speak Danish there.
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7 min: A free-kick to Chelsea on the left. It’s hung out to Ivanovic on the right and the Chelsea goal machine takes the ball on his chest and volleys a cross to the far post. Cahill’s interested, but Lloris palms it away from him and then shovels the ball behind for a corner. Again Chelsea can’t do anything with it, but they have started very well.
6 min: Costa charges into the area from the left and is sent flying by a firm but clean tackle from Eric Dier, who concedes a corner. Costa isn’t happy. But then, he rarely is. He immediately jumps up, looking to engage in heated debate with Dier. Anthony Taylor steps in. The corner comes to nothing.
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5 min: Costa flicks a pass into the area to Ramires. His shot is blocked.
4 min: The Spurs fans are singing about marching in and now they’re marching up the pitch. Willian loses the ball on the edge of the area and it runs to Kane. Uh oh, Spaghetti Os! His pass to Eriksen isn’t up to scratch, however, and Chelsea get away with it.
3 min: Contrary to suggestions before kick-off, Kurt Zouma is playing in midfield and Gary Cahill is alongside John Terry at the back. Meanwhile the camera has picked out Nemanja Matic in the stands. He’s looking very annoyed in his suit.
2 min: Hazard scampers down the left and wins a free-kick, barged over by Walker. Willian swings it into the Tottenham area and there’s Terry to head well over the bar.
And we’re off! Chelsea, kicking from left to right, get the 2015 League Cup final underway! There’s a cracking atmosphere inside Wembley, as you’d expect. These two don’t like each other very much.
Smoke is billowing around the pitch - how dramatic - and the players are out. It’s time for the presentation party to do the meet and greet! Lots of hand-shaking and pleasantries, and once that’s done, it’s time for the national anthem, as sung by the London Youth Choir.
It’s not entirely clear whether it will be Gary Cahill or Kurt Zouma in midfield. At the moment, it sounds like it’s going to be Cahill instead of the young Frenchman, which is slightly surprising. Not many people predicted this line-up, but Mourinho is clearly scarred by the way that Christian Eriksen and Nacer Chadli caused his side so many problems on New Year’s Day. That’s how much of a blow Matic’s absence is, while it doesn’t help that John Obi Mikel is injured. The experience of Petr Cech is preferred to Thibaut Courtois in goal.
Tottenham have also made a big decision about their goalkeeper and the right one. Michel Vorm has been their man in the League Cup so far, but Mauricio Pochettino has been ruthless and selected his No1, Hugo Lloris, instead. Had to be done. It could be the difference between winning and losing. There’s no room for sentiment.
The teams
Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry, Azpilicueta; Cahill, Ramires; Willian, Fabregas, Hazard; Costa. Subs: Courtois, Filipe Luis, Ake, Oscar, Cuadrado, Drogba, Remy.
Tottenham: Lloris; Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Mason; Chadli, Eriksen, Townsend; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Davies, Fazio, Dembele, Stambouli, Lamela, Soldado.
Conspirator-in-chief: Anthony Taylor.
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I’ll have the full teams with you shortly, but let me just say that Gary Cahill, Kurt Zouma and John Terry all start for Chelsea. With Matic out, Mourinho is taking no chances.
Preamble
Hello. The League Cup is often viewed as an inconvenience, but while its importance is not always appreciated, winning it can be the first step on the path to more significant honours. Jose Mourinho understood its value when he first arrived in England all those years ago. Whereas Arsenal and Manchester would often play reserve sides in the League Cup and make early exits against lesser opponents, Mourinho attacked the competition with Chelsea in the 2004-05 season. He knew how vital it was for a Chelsea side that a reputation for flakiness to get that first major trophy under their belt. Two months after they beat Liverpool 3-2 in that final, Steven Gerrard scoring that own-goal, Chelsea won their first league title for 50 years. They had the taste.
Ten years on and we are still waiting for Chelsea 2.0 to make the next step. As much as he rattled on about young eggs and little horses, last season would have been deeply unsatisfactory for Mourinho: Chelsea finished third in the league and they were knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-finals, the League Cup in the quarter-finals and the fifth round of the FA Cup. They were almost there, but not quite, and that will never be good enough for Mourinho. Chelsea were missing that extra dash of relentless and indefatigability that once defined them, that allowed them to win the Champions League in 2012 despite everything being stacked against them, but the signs are that this team is developing it. Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas have sharpened their edge and this is a big afternoon for the likes of Eden Hazard and Oscar, who need to start adding a few medals to their CVs.
It goes without saying that Chelsea are the favourites. But wait! Do you know what happened the last time these two sides met? Tottenham only went and thumped Chelsea 5-3 on New Year’s Day, a game in which Christian Eriksen ripped Nemanja Matic apart - Matic is suspended today, in case you hadn’t heard - and Harry Kane became The Harry Kane. And do you know what happened the last time these two met in the League Cup final? Jonathan Woodgate scored the winner in extra-time. Could Eric Dier be Tottenham’s Woodgate today? There’s only one way to find out, but what is clear is that this will be tough for Chelsea. Although Tottenham have stuttered a little of late, stumbling in the league and crashing out of Europe on Thursday, they will be up for this one and Mauricio Pochettino will be desperate to win his first trophy in England and, indeed, his first major trophy as a manager. He won’t be underestimating the importance of the League Cup.
This should be good.
Kick-off: 4pm.
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