Stamford Bridge was on January 6th engulfed in pure emotion as a young Chelsea fan invaded the pitch at the final whistle to possibly meet his great football idol, Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Not only that, Arrizabalaga made the moment absolutely special by gifting the young fan his own match gloves as a way to trade into the love shared.
Far from the curtain closing moment, Chelsea took a big step towards Wembley as they beat Tottenham 2-0 in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Kai Havertz struck early for the Blues and a Ben Davies own goal doubled their lead, as Antonio Conte was beaten on his return to Stamford Bridge. Spurs now face an uphill battle to overturn the deficit at home in the second leg next Wednesday night (January 12th), while Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel will feel supremely confident of reaching the final of a competition they last won in 2015.
The big news for Chelsea was that Romelu Lukaku started following the controversy surrounding his interview and dropping for the Premier League clash against Liverpool at the weekend.
Tottenham boss Antonio Conte named a strong side, only slightly tweaking his defence with two changes as Japhet Tanganga and Matt Doherty came in.
Thomas Tuchel made the surprising decision to switch to a back four and it led to Chelsea's utter dominance of the first half. They were well worthy of their two-goal lead at the break, but from a Tottenham perspective, both goals were entirely preventable.
Spurs Own Goal:
It was Tottenham’s own self-implosion that has gifted Chelsea both goals, with the second being a comical own goal. Japhet Tanganga attempted to head the Chelsea free-kick clear but could only knock it directly against teammate Ben Davies.
Timo Werner had a fabulous one on one chance with Hugo Lloris, but failed with his attempted lob. Hakim Ziyech smashed a volley over at the far post. Romelu Lukaku hit a tame shot straight at Lloris late on.
It gives Tottenham a glimmer of hope they scarcely deserve. This was a tired, lifeless display, short on goal scoring opportunity, long on defensive mayhem.
If there was a negative for Chelsea it is that both of their goals were created as much by Tottenham’s ineptitude as their own attacking flair. It will have felt good for the home crowd to be crying ‘ole’ as Chelsea passed around their opponents with five minutes to go, but superior possession is no replacement for the hard currency of goals.
FULL-TIME: Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham
A chastening return to Stamford Bridge for Antonio Conte as Thomas Tuchel comes out on top in the first-leg of this Carabao Cup semi-final.
Kai Havertz opened the scoring in the fifth minute before a bizarre own goal from Ben Davies gave Chelsea a two-goal lead.
The Blues held on - with Spurs not looking overly threatening - and they will take a two-goal lead to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next week!
With lady luck being on Chelsea’s side tonight, the ball bounced off Davies and into the back of the net. What a calamity!