"Most dominant performance I've seen" - Chelsea fans react to comfortable Carabao Cup victory against Tottenham
Chelsea recorded a comfortable 2-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final courtesy of a strong performance in the London derby. The Blues named a much-changed line-up from the one that faced Liverpool at the weekend, with Romelu Lukaku returning to the team after being dropped for his explosive interview.
The likes of Kepa Arrizabalaga, Malang Sarr and Saul Niguez were also handed starts, while Tottenham's front three of Son Heung-Min, Harry Kane and Lucas Moura grabbed the headlines as far as their team sheet was concerned.
Chelsea raced off the blocks and took an early lead through Kai Havertz, whose close-range shot found its way into the back of the net via a touch from Davinson Sanchez. The German attacker made a clever run into the box to get on the end of a pass from Marcos Alonso, who galloped forward to win the ball back for the Blues in a dangerous area.
Tottenham failed to make their presence felt and were soon punished for their lack of conviction as Chelsea doubled their lead in fortunate circumstances. Hakim Ziyech's free-kick from the right-flank landed up in the back of the net in what went down as a Ben Davies own-goal, with the Welshman unable to get out of the way after Japhet Tanganga had attempted to clear a ball that was heading goalwards.
Chelsea head onto their lead in the second half to secure deserved victory
While the second half didn't produce any goals, Chelsea held on for a valuable victory and look well poised to make it through to the finals of the Carabao Cup. The Blues will cross the London divide to meet Tottenham in the second leg next week, but their two-goal lead will allow them to play with confidence away from home.
Elsewhere, the other semi-final involving Liverpool and Arsenal was postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak in the Reds' camp, with the game now set to be played on the 21st of January.
As Chelsea recorded a comfortable home victory, here are the best tweets from the game.
@ChelseaFCCongratulations on the victory my friends đź‘Ź đź’™ @ChelseaFC
Guardiola, Klopp, Conte, Simeone and Zidane beaten in his first year as Chelsea Boss, in Tuchel we Trust 🔵 https://t.co/75CvdXiyDA
🗣️ "Tottenham in the last years, the level has dropped."
Antonio Conte gave his honest unfiltered opinion on the gap between Tottenham and Chelsea đź‘€ https://t.co/iF2SNwnIf3
On a night Lukaku had to try and win over Chelsea fans, it was Saul & Ziyech who did instead. What a performance from both of these men.
Thomas Tuchel Masterclass tonight, we dominated the game and it looked effortless at times, keep in mind the amount of players we have out with injury and COVID.. 1 leg away from another final under the main man 🇩🇪
Chelsea created 16 chances, Spurs created just 4, impressive. https://t.co/ZFBvVDs6s5
A kid runs onto the pitch after the match to go to his favourite Chelsea player Kepa and gets his gloves... security take him away but he keeps his prize. #CFC #CHETOT
Underrated factor about Chelsea winning the Champions League was how Tuchel made subtle tactical tweaks in almost every game like using Kanté high behind Kroos in the Real Madrid 2nd leg.This guy is very dangerous in knockout competitions because he’s basically a football genius. twitter.com/premleaguepane…
With Conte being the elite tactician that he is, he has solved Spurs' biggest problem in the 1st half (dealing with Chelsea's deep fullbacks when he expected them to start with wingbacks). The Italian has switched to a 4-5-1 shape with Lucas/Son tasked with pressing the fullbacks https://t.co/mbPCvjuQpw
Update: Chelsea have lost 1 of their last 22 matches in all competitions.
Not sure Chelsea will ever play to Lukaku's strength under Tuchel. We play balls to feet, not lump it forward all the time. We don't put him where he can be dangerous enough, just flashes here and there.
Catching a break? Nah, what’s that… we don’t do that at Chelsea football club
Chelsea didn’t have their full strength team out today but let’s be fair to Tottenham, they didn’t have Son & Kane either
Chelsea have Azpilicueta, Christensen, Chalobah, James and Chilwell out. Thiago Silva has COVID and we have Manchester City next week. I believe a defender signing is needed but I could be wrong...
Chelsea legend Ashley Cole says he loves Thomas Tuchel, via Sky Sports.
Lukaku’s the only player playing for Conte. The other 21 are playing for Chelsea.
That was as dominant a performance I’ve seen in a while. Thomas Tuchel has now comprehensively beaten Guardiola, Klopp, Conte, Simeone, and Zidane as Chelsea boss in 12 months.
Chelsea cruised this…actually was even able to rest a couple players and not exert as much energy in the second half too..only thing Tuchel would have liked is more goals!! Not many easier first legs against rivals than that in overall play!! 👏🏼👏🏼
Saul Niguez's game by numbers vs. Tottenham:
100% long ball accuracy
89% pass accuracy
69 touches
55 passes
6 tackles (most)
3 interceptions (=most)
2 shots
2 chances created
Dominating in the midfield. 🙌 https://t.co/vuRZD84z38
Tuchel might be the greatest manager of all time, he’s revived Saul Niguez.
Saul has been ridiculously good this game. Wow.
🏾Saul is proof that bullying works👍🏾
Ah Saul dey ball o. Make we give am some 7-8 games make we see.
Cancel Saul’s scheduled flight to Madrid, the Paella Ballack is here to stay.
It's good to know Chelsea can play in a back four still.
Dominating first half from us đź’™
This could be 4 or 5 @ChelseaFC đź’™