Carabao Cup Semi-Final: Chelsea v Tottenham

Another game, another injury for a Spurs forward. This time it was Dele Alli hobbling off towards the end; the England man has been ruled out until March.

Given Fernando Llorente looked extremely rusty - the own goal could have happened to anyone but his finishing, first touch and movement will have been a real concern. Tottenham's chances have been reduced by some key absences. Talismanic striker Harry Kane and midfield dynamo Dele Alli are out for several weeks at least, and Heung-Min Son is still away at the Asian Cup on South Korea duty. That all puts a lot of responsibility on Lucas Moura in attack, who has only just returned from injury, and ingenious playmaker Christian Eriksen.

Spurs have won their last three meetings with Chelsea, including two wins at Wembley this term. Opta tell us Chelsea haven't lost four games in a row against the Lilywhites since the early 1960s, and they haven't lost back-to-back home games against them since 1982.

The good news for Spurs is that to an extent they've already done the hard work. They're 1-0 up from the first leg thanks to that Kane penalty and the onus is on Chelsea to go on the front foot and force the issue.

And Chelsea aren't exactly in a particularly great place at the moment. Even before losing convincingly to Arsenal they weren't playing well, labouring to narrow wins over Newcastle, Watford and Palace and losing to Leicester, Tottenham in this competition (as just mentioned) and drawing at home to Southampton.

It's anyone's guess as to how the players will react to Maurizio Sarri's stinging criticism of them after that Arsenal loss but let's just say it didn't go down particularly well when Jose Mourinho was at it at Chelsea a few years ago. It just seems like the team is solely dependent on Eden Hazard to make something happen and given that he's being played out of position, is somewhat out form and looks pretty jaded, they may struggle to create much. More on that in a minute.

At least Spurs showed plenty of desire and stomach for the fight in that win over Fulham and that could go a long way here. By hook or by crook, they look a decent bet to go through at 5/6.

They may be struggling for fit personnel upfront but there's not much wrong with their defence right now. It was a good ploy from Mauricio Pochettino to play three at the back and get his width from his wing-backs and the extra man in the heart of their defence will surely be a valuable asset here.

With so few of Chelsea's attacking players in any sort of form and Spurs not needing to take many risks, this could be a slow burner with 0-0, 1-1 and 1-0 very much lively runners here. Take the 17/20 on under 2.5 goals. The double comes to 3.08.

RECOMMENDED BETS
Back Spurs to qualify (5/6) + Under 2.5 goals (17/20) @ 3.08

Source: betting.betfair.com