Carabao Cup Fourth Round

SPURS 1 (Lamela 83)
CHELSEA 1 (Werner 19)
Spurs win 5-4 on penalties

JOSE Mourinho said he was not going to prioritise the League Cup this year – instead fixing his sights on Thursday’s Europa League qualifier against Maccabi Haifa.

But there was an air of a job well done tonight (Tuesday) as Mourinho got one over on his old club in thrilling fashion.

His Spurs side came back from a goal down against Chelsea to win 5-4 on penalties and book their place in the quarter-finals of the cup.

Mourinho has spoken of how the club needed to toughen up – he knows of Tottenham’s nearly men record in recent years, having inflicted a number of the defeats on Spurs himself.

And perhaps tonight we saw a new mentality to turn a game round. In a most un-Spurs like fashion, they even scored all five penalties against Chelsea to deservedly win a cup tie.

After the victory, Mourinho said his side had made a good Chelsea team look “ordinary”, and praised the spirit that his players displayed.

“I said before the game that we would be ready to fight, and we were ready to fight,” said the Tottenham boss.

“I told the players before the penalties, I don’t care about the penalties, I care about what they did. They were the best team. They were magnificent.”

Mourinho acknowledged his side – which yet again did not include Dele Alli or Ryan Sessegnon, even on the bench – was being asked to do a lot.

He added: “They were phenomenal. We used boys, first minute for the season. Tanganga – not even a friendly.

“Today I had a feeling everything was going well, because, by far, we were the best team and by far the boys deserved to win this match.”

The Tottenham team selection showed Mourinho’s approach to this competition.

Gedson Fernandes started in midfield alongside Moussa Sissoko and Tanguy Ndombele – players who rarely play together, and it showed as they looked like a collection of ill-fitting parts.

Chelsea took the lead on 19 minutes through a rocket from Timo Werner and it was well deserved.

Tottenham’s makeshift side were over run for the first 45 minutes, but after a half time team talk the fringe players came out with much more intent.

Chances came and went for Spurs, as wing-backs Serge Aurier and Sergio Reguilon got forward more. Suddenly the home side were keeping Chelsea shot-stopper Edouard Mendy busy.

Substitute Harry Kane made a 20-minute cameo at the end, and it showed Tottenham were going to give it a real go.

The breakthrough came seven minutes from time when Erik Lamela popped up to fire home Reguilon’s well-placed cross.

The match finished 1-1 and went straight to penalties, with Eric Dier, Lamela, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Lucas Moura and Kane all converting their spot-kicks for Tottenham.

Chelsea’s Mason Mount then fired wide, and Mourinho’s fixture schedule got that little bit busier.

Spurs: Lloris, Aurier, Dier, Alderweireld, Tanganga (Kane, 70), Reguilon, Sissoko, Fernandes (Hojbjerg, 63), Ndombele, Bergwijn (Moura, 75), Lamela
Substitutes not used: Hart, Doherty, Sanchez, Davies

Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Tomori, Zouma, Chilwell (Emerson, 66), Jorginho, Kovacic (Kante, 70), Hudson-Odoi, Mount, Werner, Giroud (Abraham 75)
Substitutes not used: Arrizabalaga, Barkley, James, Havertz