(Football news) Chelsea were already in the driving seat as they approached the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. Thomas Tuchel’s team had won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge and Tottenham would require a victory by a three goal margin if they were to progress into the Carabao Cup finals. The Blues could not have asked for a better start to the match as Antonio Rudiger headed home from Mason Mount’s corner in the 18th minute, resulting in an uphill task for Spurs who were then required to score four goals or more. 

The hosts thought they might have an opening when Rudiger brought down Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the 40th minute and referee Andre Marriner pointed to the spot. However, a VAR check correctly concluded that the foul occurred outside the box and the subsequent freekick could not be converted. Around the hour mark, VAR intervened again as Marriner gave another penalty to Tottenham after it seemed that Kepa Arrizabalaga had fouled Lucas Moura but a check revealed that the goalkeeper won the ball cleanly. 

After 64 minutes, Spurs finally thought they had made a breakthrough when Lucas Moura passed the ball to Harry Kane who managed to find the back of the net only for the goal to be disallowed by the VAR as the England striker was offside. Despite the few chances Spurs had throughout the match, Chelsea always remained in control despite not hitting their best form. Antonio Conte introduced Ryan Sessegnon and Bryan Gil but the hosts could not get back into the game and deservedly lost.

Speaking after the game, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said "We started good and had big chances but then we didn't play with fire. We allowed chances from easy and sloppy mistakes. We were lucky and almost gave a penalty away for absolutely no reason, maybe a bit of overconfidence. We then started well in the second half and the same happened in the last 20 minutes.

"A lack of focus and overconfidence and then we need luck not to have another penalty and another VAR decision with the offside. We can play much better. We need to play much better if we are to really deserve results like this. In long phases of the match we played well but we need to do better. I'm unhappy with the performance."

Tottenham's Antonio Conte: "I think the performance was much better than the performance in the first leg. The first half we struggled a bit, especially the way they tried to bring pressure without the ball, and I think in the second half the performance was good and the intensity was high. I think we deserved a better final result today, but I think that after the two games Chelsea deserved to reach the final. At this moment we can't compare the two situations with Chelsea and Tottenham."

Also read: Three positions Man Utd need to bolster in the January transfer window