It’s a London derby in the EFL Cup Thursday night as Chelsea travel to Tottenham Hotspur for the second leg of their semifinal tie. Spurs are up 1-0 on aggregate, thanks to the meeting a fortnight ago, when Harry Kane’s penalty conversion was the only scoring at Wembley Stadium that night.
This match-up features two teams with real serious issues right now. For Tottenham, they have nothing short of an injury crisis in midfield and attack. For Chelsea, manager Maurizio Sarri has now done his best Jose Mourinho impersonation as he publicly threw his players under the bus.
Sarri places blame for the team’s issues on his players, but he also needs to look in the mirror himself. If the Gonzalo Higuain acquisition is done in time, he could start up top in the center.
At least the team is very fit though. The only real injury concern is midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who remains out due to a back problem.
On the other side, midfielder Dele Alli is not expected to be available, due to what is thought to be a hamstring issue. Harry Kane is out until March, because of ankle ligament damage while Son is away on international duty with South Korea at the Asian Cup.
It may be time for Lucas Moura to shine in the final third, if he is indeed fit to play. Spurs are running out of quality, fit options.
Tottenham Hotspur at Chelsea League Cup Semifinal Leg 2 FYIs
Kick-off: 745 pm (BST), 2:45 pm (EST) Tuesday January 24, Stamford Bridge
Starting XI Predictions for both teams: Chelsea
Odds via Betfair: Chelsea to advance 9/4, Tottenham to advance 5/4
League Cup Series History: Chelsea wins- 4, draws- 2, Tottenham wins- 3
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Tottenham Hotspur 1
As always, feel free to post your own final score predictions as well as your Tottenham and/or Chelsea starting XI predictions.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.