Tottenham Hotspur hosts Chelsea tonight as the two sides meet in a League Cup semi-final for the third time. Only one match-up has featured more often in this round than Spurs-Chelsea and that’s Arsenal versus Spurs, which has been staged on four occasions.
For Tottenham, this is their 15th League Cup semi-final, only Liverpool (17), have reached the final four of this competition more often. Spurs have won the last two over the Blues, both in Premier League competition, but they haven’t beaten their London rivals three in a row across all competitions since 1963.
That all said, let’s take a look at the fitness situation for both sides.
For the hosts, Lucas Moura picked up a knee injury in the very lopsided win over Tranmere Rovers in the FA Cup third round. (The match now defined by the “controversial” late substitution of Harry Kane). He joins Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele as injury absentees for this clash. The good news is that winger Erik Lamela should feature after having now recovered from illness.
All in all, expect Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino to field a decently strong side, in the quest to claim the club’s first trophy since he took the reigns.
For Chelsea, Pedro, Willian and Olivier Giroud may be fit enough in time to be involved in this one, but any or all of the front line trio could just as likely be rested for this one.
Mateo Kovacic seems back to full health now having recovered from illness.
However, Ruben Loftus-Cheek is out, due to a back injury.
Chelsea FC at Tottenham Hotspur League Cup Semifinal Leg 1 FYIs
Kick-off: 8pm (BST), 3pm (EST) Tuesday January 8, Wembley Stadium
Starting XI Predictions for both teams: go to this link
Odds via Bet 365: Chelsea 9/4, Draw 13/5, Tottenham 5/4
League Cup Series History: Chelsea wins- 4, draws- 2, Tottenham wins- 2
Prediction: Tottenham 2, Chelsea 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.