Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 1 – EFL Carabao Cup

EFL Carabao Cup 4th round match report

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Chelsea 1 – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – September 29, 2020

• Tottenham won 5-4 on penalties
• Mason Mount's penalty miss sends Tottenham to the Last 8
• Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea in a penalty shootout to reach the EFL Carabao Cup quarterfinals.

In fact, it were the visitors to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium who started the proceedings in dominant fashion and opened the scoring when Chelsea skipper Cesar Azpilicueta ran along the flank and cut one back to Timo Werner on the top of the area.

The ex-Leipzig striker was perfectly positioned to deliver a powerful shot to the bottom corner of the net to make it 1-0 for the Blues in the 19th minute.

The Spurs were listless as they went into the interval 0-1 down but came back strongly after the break.

Real Madrid import Sergio Reguilon who made his debut for the Spurs looked dangerous on the left as he went close to scoring twice – his first side-footed attempt being saved by Blues' new custodian Edouard Mendy and then a header going wide.

Mendy was up to the task again when he went low to push a Erik Lamela shot with his legs and a little later rush forward to collect a poorly executed looping clearance from his own defender Fikayo Tomori.

Gedson Fernandes then threatened to equalize when he pounced in on a loose ball and darted into the box but a well-timed tackle by Kurt Zouma put paid to the young Portuguese's ominous move.

Chelsea looked to be hanging on to their one goal lead well and just when it seemed that they would wrap up the tie within the stipulated 90 minutes, they conceded the equalizer with just seven minutes to go.

Reguilon's searching cross found Lamela at the far post which the Argentine had no problems in tapping in and level the score thus setting up the penalty shootout.

Eric Dier, Tammy Abraham, Lamela, Azpilicueta, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Jorginho, Lucas Moura, Emerson Palmieri and Kane all scored.

With the Spurs leading 5-4 in the shootout till that stage it all boiled down to Mason Mount to convert the 10th kick to bring things to level.

As luck would have it, the Chelsea forward's spot-kick clipped the post and went wide, allowing Tottenham to progress to the quarter-finals.

Mendy and ex-Leicester defender Ben Chilwell were among the eight changes Frank Lampard made to the side that drew with West Bromwich 3-3 on Saturday while Jose Mourinho effected nine changes from the draw with Newcastle including benching Harry Kane.

Spurs will still have to wait for the return of ex-Real Madrid star Gareth Bale owing to an injury but fellow team mate and new signing Reguilon, whose loss of possession led to Chelsea's goal, improved massively as the game wore on with the Spaniard showcasing his electric pace and ability to create a goal.

Chelsea's £22m acquisition from Rennes, Mendy, brought in to replace the hopelessly out-of-form Kepa Arrizabalaga, proved himself to be a valuable contributor between the posts, coming confidently off his line to claim catches and preventing certain goals from Lamela and Reguilon.

The match had its comical moments with Jose Mourinho and Frank Lampard involved in a shouting match on the sidelines in the first half and Eric Dier leaving the pitch late in the second half to apparently attend to a nature's call.

Tottenham starting XI: Lloris (goal), Alderweireld, Dier, Tanganga, Aurier, Gedson, Ndombele, Sissoko, Reguilon, Bergwijn, Lamela.

Subs used: Hojbjerg, Kane, Moura.

Chelsea starting XI: Mendy (goal), Azpilicueta, Zouma, Tomori, Chilwell, Jorginho, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi, Mount, Werner, Giroud.

Subs used: Emerson, Kante, Abraham.

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