Chelsea beat Spurs 2-0 in the 1st leg of the EFL Cup semi-final and this week they head across to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the 2nd leg.
Everyone thought the 1st leg was going to be a tight encounter but in the end, the Blues breezed past Conte’s side with the utmost ease. A two-goal advantage is great to be able to take onto the 2nd leg and given how Chelsea performed in the first leg, they are the massive favourites to head into the final.
Thomas Tuchel named a pretty strong line-up for the FA Cup game against Chesterfield but these players did not break a sweat on Saturday so they will be raring to go this week as well.
The Chelsea boss has several players missing with injuries but he will get back Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kante which is a big boost in terms of his team selection. Tuchel opted for a four-man defensive line in that 2-0 win but on Wednesday the German should revert to his usual 3-4-2-1 system.
Spurs will definitely come out all guns blazing since this is the final chance to redeem themselves and this is why we are expecting a really tough contest – unlike what we saw in the first leg of the semi-final.
Chelsea team news vs Tottenham Hotspur:
Eduoard Mendy has joined Senegal for the Africa Cup of Nations so Kepa Arrizabalaga will start in goal.
Thiago Silva was out after testing positive for COVID but the centre-back should return to the starting line up this week, alongside Rudiger and Malang Sarr.
@tsilva3 is NEGATIVE!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽 pic.twitter.com/abkzTpaVjm
— Belle Silva (@bellesilva) January 8, 2022
Trevoh Chalobah is out with a hamstring injury while Azpilicueta is expected to start on the bench.
N’Golo Kante was also on the sidelines due to COVID and he too is going to feature in the middle of the pitch, alongside Jorginho. Kovacic and Saul were brilliant in the 5-1 FA Cup win but we don’t expect them to start vs Spurs at the back of a win against Chesterfield.
Also, Chelsea are going to defend a 2 goal advantage so the pairing of Jorginho and Kante will be ideal to run the show.
Ben Chilwell will be out for the rest of the season so Marcos Alonso will once against start on the left-hand side with Hudson-Odoi operating on the other side.
Lukaku has returned to the side after being briefly dropped and we expect the Belgian international to lead the line once again. Since Pulisic and Timo Werner both played the full 90 minutes against Chesterfield, we don’t expect them to start in midweek.
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Stats via Fotmob.
