FULL TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 West Ham United
Well, well, well. Of course, it’d be easy to trot out a few Lads, It’s Tottenham jokes; new Spurs same as the old Spurs; all that jazz. But just as West Ham weren’t awful in the first half, Spurs weren’t particularly terrible in the second. It’s simply the case that the Hammers came out with such renewed purpose and intensity after the break, they’d have blown anybody away. They were quite magnificent to a man, and claim a thoroughly deserved place in the quarter finals. That’s a night that’ll be remembered for a long time in east London, not least because it’s bought Slaven Bilic some precious breathing space.
Updated
90 min +3: Eriksen presses and probes, but can’t find a route through. Ayew, the two-goal hero, picks the ball up on the edge of his own area and dribbles it slowly upfield to run down the clock. That’ll have given his fans a few palpitations, but clear his lines he eventually does.
90 min +2: Davies sends some speculation into the West Ham area. Cresswell guides it back to Adrian, and the clock ticks down.
90 min +1: Eriksen sends a daisycutter through a thicket of players towards the bottom left. Adrian should gather, but he can only push it out to the left. Alderweireld can’t turn it back into the danger zone, and the West Ham keeper gets away with an awful ricket!
90 min: There will be four added minutes.
89 min: Alderweireld tries to get under a long ball into the West Ham box. Ogbonna heads out for a corner on the left. The set piece is flicked on to Alli at the far post. He’s bundled over by Byram, and claims a penalty kick, but the flag’s long been up for offside at the flick-on.
88 min: Arnautovic has come on for Lanzini.
87 min: Davies makes off down the left and tries to find Alli in the box with his cross, but Ogbonna rises to clear. The tension is crackling around Wembley. It’s quiet, but that’s not a criticism: this is some tense football on display! The fear from both sets of supporters is palpable.
85 min: See 82 minutes, pretty much. West Ham have continued to play on the front foot, which is very much to their credit.
84 min: Some late drama at Stamford Bridge. Willian made it 2-0 for Chelsea after a couple of minutes of injury time, but Calvert-Lewin pulled one back for Everton 90 seconds later. But it’s not enough for the Toffees. Final score: Chelsea 2-1 Everton.
83 min: Son is replaced by Nkoudou.
82 min: A free kick for West Ham, wide on the left. The visitors load the box. Lanzini lumps the ball into the mixer. Carroll is desperate to get his nut on it, but Alderweireld beats him to it.
81 min: Another Spurs change. Eriksen arrives, taking the place of Rose.
80 min: Trippier looks to hook the free kick over the wall and into the top left. It’s miles wide of the left-hand post. He really should have worked Adrian at the very least.
79 min: Rose zips with purpose down the left, reaches the byline and pujlls back for Son, who hesitates on the edge of the area instead of shooting. West Ham clear. Spurs come straight back at them, Davies romping down the inside left, only to be pulled back by Kouyate. That’s a free kick in a very dangerous position, just to the left of the D.
77 min: Alli tries to curl one into the top right from 25 yards. Nope. West Ham replace Fernandes with Obiang.
76 min: West Ham are sitting back, clearly determined to keep what they’ve got. You can understand the impulse, though they’re inviting Spurs to get back into this game. When they were pelting upfield with purpose, the hosts didn’t know what to do. The best form of defence etc.
74 min: Spurs demonstrate that last point by nearly grinding out an equaliser. Rose dribbles in from the left, then floats a cross to Son, who can’t get a header goalwards. The ball breaks to Sissoko, racing in from the right. He blasts a wild effort miles over the bar. Chance.
73 min: You’d have got a good price on this scoreline at the break. Spurs look confused, approaching stunned. Their fans have gone quiet, which is understandable given the triple whammy West Ham have just delivered. The away fans are in party mode. Long way to go yet, though.
72 min: ... nothing. Meanwhile a livid-looking Mauricio Pochettino reacts, hooking Llorente in favour of Dembele.
71 min: Spurs finally get their gamefaces on. Son dribbles down the inside-right channel and tees up Sissoko, who sends a belter towards the top right. Adrian tips it away, and the corner leads to ...
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 West Ham United (Ogbonna 70)
Cresswell crosses, forcing Alderweireld to turn the ball behind for West Ham’s seventh corner of the evening, out on the left. Lanzini curls it towards the front stick. Ogbonna rises on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, and glances a brilliant header into the right-hand side of the net, Vorm rooted to the spot. What a comeback! This came from nowhere! This is quite astonishing!
Updated
68 min: Dier, quarterbacking from deep again, nearly releases Trippier down the right with a glorious crossfield pass. But Cresswell reads play well, and eyebrows it away from danger. This game is perfectly poised.
66 min: Noble plays an adventurous pass down the left and very nearly sends Ayew speeding past a sleepy Spurs back line. But the ball goes out of play. Tottenham need to watch themselves here; West Ham have the scent of blood in their nostrils and are looking for a third goal. They look much the brighter team at the moment.
64 min: Spurs finally find another gear. Sissoko makes ground down the right and scoops a cross into the box. Alli, in the middle of a thicket of players, somehow manages to shape a powerful volley goalwards from the penalty spot. Adrian does extremely well to catch a sight of the shot in the crowded area, and stops it on the line.
62 min: Spurs don’t appear panicked yet, but they do look collectively groggy. They’re playing at half the pace of West Ham right now; the visitors are first to everything and pinging their passes around with purpose. This has suddenly been transformed into a most fascinating match.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 West Ham United (Ayew 60)
Incredible scenes at Wembley! Lanzini slips Cresswell away down the left. Alderweireld can only half clear. The ball’s chipped back into the area down the inside-left channel. Carroll flicks it round the corner with his head, a deft touch which releases Lanzini into space to the left of the six-yard box. Lanzini flicks inside, where Ayew beats Vorm to the ball and hooks it into the right-hand portion of the net! We’re all square! And West Ham have been simply brilliant since the restart. What desire!
Updated
58 min: ... nothing much happens. But the visitors are right in this now. They’ve been snapping around Tottenham tootsies since the restart, and the home side aren’t responding particularly well to the pressure. Both sets of fans in great voice now, though, as we really do have a match on our hands here!
57 min: Game on all right! Cresswell, near the left-hand corner flag, whips a glorious ball to the near post. Vorm comes out and flaps. Ayew gets a head on it, but can’t guide it into the net. The ball deflects off the keeper and out for a corner. From which ...
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 West Ham United (Ayew 55)
Lanzini’s corner is poor, but only half cleared by Davies. Fernandes, 20 yards out on the left, fizzes a low shot through a thicket of players. Vorm gets down to parry, but can only tee up Ayew, who slams into the bottom right from a couple of yards. Game on!
Updated
55 min: Carroll dribbles down the left. Good feet for etc. He earns a corner. From which ...
53 min: Rose drifts past a couple of half-arsed West Ham challenges, making good ground down the left before cutting inside and striding towards the box. He slips a fine pass down the channel for Llorente, but the big striker has dimly wandered offside, and a great chance to put West Ham in a lot of trouble is gone.
51 min: Spurs get their foot on the ball, taking the sting out of the game. Time for a dispatch from the other match courtesy of Gerrard Catesby: “Chelsea v Everton is a joy, it really is. Everton are playing well at the moment, but most fascinating of all is their tackling – they’ve gone to ground about 15 times in the second half, earning three bookings in the process. Absolutely legendary!”
49 min: But Noble’s outburst fires West Ham up. They win a corner down the right, after a cross from the opposite wing very nearly finds Carroll in the middle. Nothing comes of the set piece, but the Hammers need something quickly, and at least they’re showing a desire to get it.
47 min: Early stresses for Son, who looks to burst down the inside left, but kicks the ground as he tries to pass Kouyate. The ball is put out for treatment. Son’s OK. Noble isn’t, though: he takes offence at the way Spurs return the ball. He goes into full Scrappy Doo mode: Davies looks like he’s trying to calm him down with a “hey come on”. He soon resorts to “oh [eff] off”. Grown men here.
Updated
We’re off again! No changes at half-time. Spurs get the ball rolling for the second half. It’s still Chelsea 1-0 Everton at Stamford Bridge, by the way, the home side leading there through Antonio Rudiger’s towering header, sent whistling into the top left from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box.
Half-time admin:
HALF TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 West Ham United
Thing is, West Ham haven’t been terrible. They’ve just not put anything together in the final third. And Spurs - even a second-string Spurs - are simply very good, even in second gear. West Ham need the next goal. More action soon!
Updated
44 min: Sissoko whips in a cross from a deep position on the left. Llorente’s nowhere near it. Rice leaves it. Adrian waves it through. It bounces out of play, inches wide of the right-hand post. The keeper had that covered, but the crowd were certainly unsure of what was going on, and oooooh accordingly.
43 min: Dier sashays his way down the middle of the park, slips the ball right for Alli, who tries to wedge a return pass into the area. Dier has kept going, but he’s never getting it.
42 min: Noble is fed by Lanzini, 25 yards from goal, down the inside-left channel. He skelps a bouncer towards the bottom left, but Vorm is behind it all the way. Cue ironic cheers from the home faithful; it’s the first serious action for the Spurs keeper all evening.
41 min: Spurs stroke it around in the dominant style for some time. Son tries a trick on the edge of the West Ham box, hoping to manufacture space to shoot, but it doesn’t quite come off.
39 min: Carroll makes a nuisance of himself to the right of the Spurs goal. He can’t quite get a shot away, but he does earn a corner. That set piece leads to another, which leads to a Spurs quick-break upfield. Alli races down the right, and he’s got Son clear in the middle, but he can’t find the pass and Fernandes finally makes a challenge to put a stop to his gallop.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 West Ham United (Alli 37)
They’re looking comfortable enough now! The effervescent Son bubbles down the inside-left channel, before dinking a pass forward for Alli, just inside the box. Alli takes a touch to the right, and curls one past Adrian and into the bottom right-hand corner. That took a deflection off poor Rice’s head, giving the keeper no chance.
Updated
36 min: Spurs haven’t done much in attack since the Alli header on 18 minutes. West Ham have enjoyed their fair share of possession. But the home side have looked comfortable enough.
35 min: Dier, quarterbacking to the right of the centre circle, very nearly releases Son down the middle with a spectacular curling pass. Rice reads the intention brilliantly, though, stepping in to blooter clear.
33 min: Lanzini hoicks a ball into the Spurs area from the left. Carroll isn’t really on the front foot, and Rose is able to chest the ball back to Vorm. A lame end to a promising situation, but West Ham are definitely in this game now.
31 min: Ayew spins on a sixpence to leave Dier floundering down the West Ham right. It’s a lovely bit of skill, and his raking pass down the wing to release Byram is equally as good. But the young full back has gone too early, and the offside flag goes up, ruining a very promising West Ham attack. Spurs were light at the back there, with Carroll and Cresswell nicely placed in the middle.
29 min: Son forces a corner down the right. Trippier takes. The whistle goes immediately for some common-or-garden infringement in the box. The tempo of this game has slowed a little. Not loads to report.
28 min: Rose very nearly skitters clear down the left, but once he nears the box he’s ushered back up the wing by Byram. That’s fine defending.
26 min: West Ham have dominated possession in the last few minutes. It’s a decent response after a stodgy start. Fernandes takes a stride down the inside-right channel and looks for the bottom-left corner from the best part of 30 yards. Full marks for ambition, if nothing else.
24 min: A free kick for West Ham out on the right, and a chance to load the Spurs box. Lanzini takes. It’s not aimed at anyone in particular, but Alderweireld channels his inner Lovren, fails to clear, and lets the ball bounce around in his own area, amid a forest of players. Anything could happen, and there’s panic in the Spurs ranks, but nobody in claret can get anywhere near the ball and it eventually spins through to Vorm.
22 min: Carroll does very well to control a fizzing ball on the edge of the Spurs D. He looks to shift it between his feet and send a low shot towards the bottom right, but can’t quite manufacture the opportunity. But again, that’s something to give the trailing visitors succour.
Updated
20 min: A little bit of possession for West Ham in the middle of the park. They go nowhere in particular, but they’ll be happy just to get a bit of a foothold in the game.
18 min: A long ball down the Spurs left forces Ogbonna into the concession of a corner. The ball is sent back to Trippier, deep on the left. He Beckhams a delightful deep cross to Alli, who has peeled off at the far post and rises to head alone. Alli aims for the top left with a header back across goal, but Adrian parries well. Very nearly a second for Spurs, who are purring.
Updated
17 min: Lanzini shows a clean pair of heels to Trippier down the left wing, a fine run from deep. He drifts a little inside, then slips a pass along the channel intended for Ayew. But Alderweireld gets in between man and ball, and is clumsily fouled by the striker. The first real sign of West Ham life.
15 min: Ditto West Ham, who can hardly get a sniff of the ball at the moment. Spurs are in total control of this match.
14 min: Everton aren’t quite so chipper: Antonio Rudiger has opened the scoring at Stamford Bridge after 26 minutes. Chelsea 1-0 Everton.
Updated
12 min: Spurs pin West Ham back into their final third. Son is buzzing around like the in-form fellow he is. He looks extremely lively. Llorente and Sissoko also seem fleet of foot, no doubt buoyed by their respective roles in the opening goal. Spurs are a happy team at the moment.
10 min: Cresswell and Ayew combine down the left, the latter earning a corner off Alli. Lanzini’s corner is useless, and cleared with ease. For a second, it looks as though Alli is going to romp up the other end of the pitch on his own, but Kouyate makes sure he can’t latch onto the loose ball and zip away.
8 min: Spurs have their tails up, as you’d expect after that early goal. Sissoko bombs down the right, but his hook into the middle is high and aimless and West Ham breathe again. On the touchline, Slaven Bilic is already mooching around with his hands deep in his pockets like a moody teenager.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 West Ham United (Sissoko 6)
Llorente, deep on the left, plays a ball down the wing for Son, who rips into space, drifts inside, and slips a pass towards Sissoko, bursting down the middle. Sissoko is free, opens his body, and slides a glorious finish past Adrian and into the bottom left!
Updated
5 min: Fernandes is found deep down the right, but his hook into the middle fails to find Carroll. Foyth clears. Spurs break up the other end, and ...
4 min: West Ham continue to stroke it around. Then Cresswell is nearly stripped of possession by Trippier down the West Ham left, but the Spurs man is closed down before he can launch a quick attack.
2 min: West Ham take their turn to have a touch. It’s a slow start. But even though Wembley isn’t full - hey, you can’t expect 80,000 to turn up every day - the place is really cooking.
And we’re off! Wembley a riot of sound. West Ham get the ball rolling. Spurs quickly take the ball off them and pass it around the back a bit, getting a feel for the thing. It’s a lovely ball, isn’t it? Eh?
The teams are out! Tottenham are in their famous lilywhite shirts and dark blue shorts, West Ham in their equally storied claret and blue tops and white breeks. It’s an aesthetic pleasure, a lovely classic look to the evening, if you ignore the half-empty stands. Alan Hardaker will be spinning in his grave. But there’s a fine atmosphere nonetheless; well, it is a local derby, after all, and it’s the first time these two grand old London clubs have met at the home of English football. We’ll be off in a minute!
Updated
Wembley will be bouncing pretty soon, but let’s not forget there’s a whole world outside its doors. Chelsea and Everton are playing tonight at Stamford Bridge, Danny Drinkwater making his debut for the home side; we’ll keep you up to date with that. No early goals in the 7.45pm kick-off. Meanwhile look what Drinkwater’s old team have just announced ...
Mauricio Pochettino speaks! “We are going to play Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham. We will keep our identity, the way we play. We have made some changes, but this is normal, we cannot play too much with the Champions League and the Premier League. We have a good balance, and keep the same idea. We play to win!”
Updated
Slaven Bilic speaks! “It would be good to win tonight of course. It’s a big game, it’s a derby, it’s a cup tie, we are playing for the quarter finals. It would be great for us to go through. We have put out a strong team tonight, with players who might not have been getting chances. We have three games in one week, with a very big game on Saturday, so we have to rest some players. But we also want to give some players the game they deserve, we have put out a strong team. It was obvious and clear to see that the players can’t wait for the game to start, to make up for what happened against Brighton.”
Team changes a-plenty, as is customary in the League Cup these days. [MBM hack tuts like old man] Spurs make seven changes to the side that took 12 minutes to beat Liverpool at the weekend. Out go Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Davison Sanchez, Serge Aurier, Christian Eriksen, Harry Winks and Harry Kane, the latter having done himself a disservice while theatrically yanking down Dejan Lovren’s shorts.
In comes Michel Vorm, who wears the captain’s armband, along with Juan Foyth, Ben Davies, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Moussa Sissoko and Fernando Llorente. It’s fair to say Spurs have quite some depth to their squad now.
Meanwhile West Ham make a whopping nine changes to the team that capitulated 3-0 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion last Friday. Out go Joe Hart, Winston Reid, Jose Fonte, Pablo Zabaleta, Arthur Masuaku, Pedro Obiang, Michail Antonio, Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez. In come [MBM hack takes deep breath, then tuts like old man] Adrian, Sam Byram, Angelo Ogbonna, Declan Rice, Aaron Cresswell, Mark Noble, Edimilson Fernandes, Andre Ayew and Andy Carroll.
For the record, and in the interests of some sort of completion, the only Spurs players to remain in the starting XI are Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son. West Ham’s only survivors are Cheikhou Kouyate and Manuel Lanzini.
Tonight's teams
Tottenham Hotspur: Vorm, Foyth, Alderweireld, Davies, Trippier, Sissoko, Dier, Alli, Rose, Llorente, Son.
Subs: Sanchez, Nkoudou, Dembele, Gazzaniga, Eriksen, Winks, Walker-Peters.
West Ham United: Adrian, Ogbonna, Rice, Kouyate, Byram, Noble, Fernandes, Cresswell, Ayew, Lanzini, Carroll.
Subs: Fonte, Arnautovic, Obiang, Hernandez, Haksabanovic, Hart, Masuaku.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
Updated
Welcome to tonight's big Wembley showdown ...
... in which Tottenham Hotspur, fresh from an assured showing at Real Madrid and a spectacular shoeing of Liverpool, look to complete a fine week’s work in three competitions by reaching the quarter finals of the League Cup. Meanwhile West Ham United consider saving their under-fire manager’s bacon with a first win at Spurs since knocking them out of this very competition in December 2013.
Spurs have claimed this trophy on four occasions, the most recent in 2008 when they beat Chelsea in the final. West Ham have only two runners-up spots to their name, losing to West Bromwich Albion in 1966 and Liverpool in 1981. A quarter-final slot would do both clubs nicely; Spurs haven’t won anything since that 2008 League Cup, while the Hammers haven’t picked up any silverware since the 1980 FA Cup. With local pride also at stake, this could be tasty and a lot of wholesome fun. We kick off at 8pm. It’s on!
Updated
