Antonio Conte took his Spurs team to one of his former homes of Stamford Bridge and it’s safe to say that he’s had more enjoyable nights in his career. A few defensive blunders from his players gifted the win to Chelsea in this two-legged EFL Cup semi-final. An early strike from Kai Havertz and a clumsy Ben Davies own goal were enough for the Blues to take a commanding lead in the tie. Although a two-goal deficit isn’t impossible to overcome, Conte’s team would have to show a significant improvement to stand any chance of appearing in the Wembley Stadium final on 27 February.Saul Niguez has made more tackles (6) and more interceptions (3) than any other Chelsea or Tottenham player tonight.Solid. 👏 pic.twitter.com/mogYx7DuKw— Squawka Football (@Squawka) January 5, 2022 Many spectators were still out of their seats when the Blues took the lead. Marcos Alonso cut off a pass from Japhet Tanganga and slid the ball quickly for Kai Havertz to shoot. The German’s attempt didn’t have too much pace on it, but it was still clumsily steered in his own net by Davinson Sanchez. It was a moment that largely defined Tottenham’s night on their short trip to West London. Too many defensive errors, insecurity on the ball and inability to create anything going forward made it a real rotten homecoming for Conte.Tanganga was once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons ten minutes before the break. His poor attempt of clearing a free-kick cannoned off his teammate Ben Davies and flew into the back of Hugo Lloris’ net. The stuff of nightmares.Friday, 22.30: (3.45) Exeter (3.30) Portsmouth (2.05)The visitors hardly had an attempt all night and left Kepa Arrizabalaga largely untested. Another man who got a chance from Thomas Tuchel was Romelu Lukaku, who was officially pardoned for his ill-advised interview with Sky Sports Italia. Tuchel replaced one German for the other at the break as Timo Werner came on to take Havertz’s place. The former Leipzig striker came close to finishing off a lovely Blues’ team move, but his attempt of chipping Lloris was denied by the Spurs skipper.Tottenham fans: “He’s Inter Milan, he’s Inter Milan, Romelu Lukaku, he’s Inter Milan.”Romelu Lukaku to Spurs fans after Chelsea’s second goal 🤫 pic.twitter.com/bKQWWICIwR— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 5, 2022 Harry Kane was desperately deprived of passes and his best chance of scoring was a free kick that was well saved by Kepa shortly after the restart.Hakim Ziyech and Saul Niguez were stretching Spurs all over the pitch with their movement and passing. It was especially the Spaniard who looked eager to impress. He didn’t have too many opportunities to play since making the switch from Atletico Madrid and was obviously keen on showing why he was brought to the club.The match ended with the home crowd taunting the visitors by cheering every single pass of their team with shouts of “Ole!”. Spurs have a week to regroup and put on a show against the same opponent in the second leg at Tottenham Stadium.EFL CupSemi-final, first legWednesdayChelsea – Tottenham 2-0 (2-0)/Havertz 5, Davies 34 og/Thursday, 13 January22.45 Liverpool – Arsenal
