Chelsea deservedly won the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, but they had so many chances that they should have buried them and made the return game at White Lane a less significant tie.

Chelsea started bright taking the lead early on through Germany international Kai Havertz.

Despite Davinson Sanchez’s best efforts, Chelsea beat hapless Spurs 2-0 in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. Kai Havertz gave Chelsea the lead early on when he ran onto Marcos Alonso’s through pass and hammered home.

Japhet Tanganga headed the ball against teammate Ben Davies’ shoulder and it sailed into the net for the Blues’ second goal.

Romelu Lukaku, who returned to the club following a one-game suspension for comments he made in an interview, had a couple of chances but shot wide from close range.

Spurs, who switched to a back four following a disastrous first half, didn’t get a shot until the 50th minute when Kepa saved Harry Kane’s free-kick.

Chelsea’s chances kept coming, with Hugo Lloris saving Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech, and the returning Timo Werner.

Spurs will need to be considerably better in the second leg in a week to have any hope of making it to Wembley.

The other semi-final features Liverpool and Arsenal, who will play on January 13 and 20 after the first leg was rescheduled due to Covid cases in the Liverpool camp.

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.