Chelsea travelled the short distance to play Tottenham in the semi-final first leg of the EFL Cup on Tuesday evening. Both sides named pretty strong sides with the majority of their regular Premier League players starting the match. Chelsea lined up in their usual 4-3-3 formation, whilst Tottenham operated in a 4-4-2 diamond.
Early warnings
Son Heung-Min caused Chelsea problems early in the match with his speed, managing to get behind the defence twice in the opening five minutes. This was a clear plan from Tottenham to exploit the lack of pace and the high line of the Chelsea defence. Despite the early warning signs, Chelsea failed to adapt quickly enough to the threat posed behind. When Tottenham’s midfielders had time and space, Chelsea’s defence should have dropped deeper to prevent passes from being played behind them.
They were eventually caught out with a long ball in behind the defence when Harry Kane ran through. Kepa Arrizabalaga brought him down for a penalty which he duly stepped up to convert. The use of VAR proved crucial in this goal, as Kane was adjudged to be onside despite the linesman flagging for offside. There was undoubtedly some level of confusion amongst the Chelsea defenders which allowed Kane to reach the ball first before he was fouled.
Callum Hudson-Odoi
Operating from the right-hand side of Chelsea’s front three Callum Hudson-Odoi was given an opportunity to showcase his talents amid intense speculation linking him with Bayern Munich. In the initial stages of the match, he maintained width with the intention of allowing Chelsea to play outside of Tottenham’s diamond midfield shape. When the passes arrived to him they were often too slow in coming which allowed Tottenham to adjust their shape and prevent him from isolating Danny Rose at full-back.
As well as providing width, Hudson-Odoi also provided more forward runs without the ball than Willian to threaten the space behind the Tottenham defence. He almost scored an equaliser right on the stroke of half time with a deflected cross that Paulo Gazzaniga just managed to tip onto the post.
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