Carabao Cup: Chelsea ease past Tottenham in semi-final first leg

Chelsea take a comfortable lead heading into the Carabo Cup semi-final second leg after a 2-0 win over London rivals Tottenham.

A heavily-deflected Kai Havertz strike and a Ben Davies own goal following a misguided header from Japhet Tanganga were enough for the hosts in a game which Spurs boss Antonio Conte will want to quickly forget on his return to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea started brightly and took the lead following a glaring error from Tanganga. The Tottenham defender’s loose pass looking for Emerson was intercepted by Marcos Alonso before he teed up Havertz, whose placed effort deflected off Davinson Sanchez’s foot and into the net.

With Tottenham failing to register a shot on target in the first half and unable to retain a meaningful share of possession, the hosts continued to push for more goals and grabbed a second in the 35th minute thanks to another Tanganga error.

The 22-year-old attempted to head away Hakim Ziyech’s dangerous free-kick, but instead it clattered off Davies and beyond Hugo Lloris in goal.

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Tottenham began the second half brightly and Kepa Arrizabalaga was tested for the first time in the 48th minute when he parried away a Harry Kane free-kick.

Substitutes Tanguy Ndombele and Timo Werner both saw shots fly narrowly over the bar, while Lucas Moura and Hakim Ziyech later witnessed their acrobatic strikes go wide in an otherwise uneventful half.

Giovani Lo Celso saw a first-time near-post effort batted away by Kepa late on while Romelu Lukaku’s close-range shot in injury time lacked sufficient power to really test Lloris and the hosts held on for an easy win.