Carabao Cup 2018-19, Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (4-2 on penalties): 5 Hits and Flops

Chelsea entered the second leg of the league cup semi-final with a goal down. Tottenham Hotspur's only goal from the last game was canceled out by N'Golo Kante who shot the ball when the visitors' defenders failed to close down and hid Paul Gazzaniga's view, who could not do anything about it at the end.

Another goal in the first half came through Eden Hazard's neat finish from a good counter attack to head into the half-time with a two-goal cushion.

However, Mauricio Pochettino's side was relentless in the second half and took the game to Chelsea's half.

Their well-deserved goal came through Fernando Llorente who did really well to sneak in and head the ball from close range to force the game to extra time.

Christian Eriksen, Eric Lamela scored the penalties for Spurs, whereas, Jorginho, David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta, and Willian found the back of the net for the hosts.

However, spot-kick misses from Eric Dier and Lucas Moura ended Tottenham Hotspur's run in the league cup as Maurizio Sarri's men will be heading to Wembley to face Manchester City who were the victors last season.

In this piece, we shall look at the five hits and flops from the game.

#1 Hit - Eden Hazard

Undoubtedly, Eden Hazard was the best player on the pitch in this game. The Belgian International did every so well to nick a goal in the first half and was causing serious problems through the left flank to Serge Aurier.

Besides that goal, he nearly set up one for Olivier Giroud who did not control the ball properly. With his extra special dribbling ability, Hazard completed four take ons which is the highest in the game and completed the same amount of crosses as well.

With the ability to drift in and find spaces between the defence, the Chelsea forward create the most number of chances with five in this game.

Chelsea sat back for most parts of the second half and Hazard's pace came in handy for them to strike Tottenham in counters.

He was rightly awarded the Man of the match award.

#2 Flop - Serge Aurier

SergeÂ Aurier in action — Serge Aurier in action

Serge Aurier made his first appearances since that 7-0 demolition of Tranmere Rovers in the FA Cup third round. Keiran Tripper, who featured every other game was left out of the squad by Mauricio Pochettino.

The Ivorian International was well supported by Moussa Sissoko in the first half who had to leave the game because of an injury.

Since Sissoko was taken out, the full-back struggled to cope up with Eden Hazard and Emerson who came in bombing through the left flank.

Besides Hazard, Emerson was totally running over Aurier who had no answer throughout the game whatsoever.

Even in the offensive part of the game, there was nil contribution. Fernando Llorente was yelling at the full-backs to cross the ball and give him properly supply, but Aurier failed to support him.

It is also not easy to go toe-to-toe against one of the best dribblers in the world, but he should have done better in many instances.

#3 Hit - Danny Rose

Ben Davies was the left-back who started the game. But, he was taken off after he complained about his hamstring, paving way for Danny Rose.

The English full-back did exceptionally well in both defensive and attacking part of the game.

Clearly, Maurizio Sarri has passed on the instructions to cut the creativity from the full-backs, but the English International did well on plenty of instances to cause disruption to Chelsea's defence. His excellent cross in the second half was headed into the net by Fernando Llorente.

He had a task cut out and nullified N'Golo Kante, Cesar Azipilicueta, and Willian throughout the game.

The 28-year-old was Tottenham's best player, especially in the second half when Pochettino changed some tactics to take the game to opponents half.

If he puts up performances like this, there is no reason why Pochettino would be even looking at Ben Davies who has struggled lately.

#4 Flop - Eric Dier

Eric Dier battles out to win the ball against Willian

Eric Dier was one of the culprits missing the spot-kick in the penalty shootout. His general was not great either.

The English International started as a midfielder in the first half and left too many gaps at the back leaving Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen do the spare job at the back.

During the second half, Pochettino opted for a back three which clicked really well. There was an instance where Hazard would be running behind him, but he had no awareness and did not track back as well.

Besides all these poor shows, he gave away too many fouls in the first half and was lucky not to get booked.

Jorginho and N'Golo Kante constantly troubled him in the first half, but with Harry Winks dropping deeper in the second half, Spurs had much more fluidity to the game compared to the first 45 minutes.

#5 Hit - David Luiz

It was really tough to pick this spot as most of the players were not at their best. David Luiz, however, looked threatening with his ball playing ability and did not have much defensively as Spurs barely looked threatening with Fernando Llorente.

Apart from that goal, the Spaniard did not have a great game and struggled to keep hold off the ball.

He made some interceptions really well and dealt with the Spanish striker really well apart from that goal.

His long-range passes made Spurs defense spread and created more space in the middle for the attackers to bounce in.

After a poor performance against Arsenal in the weekend, the Brazilian will be delighted about this outing helping his team win at the end.

When he had to keep his nerve in the penalty shootout, he did that and scored the winning penalty for the Blues.

Edited by Alan John