|
· See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats
Spurs Full Cup Record against Chelsea
FA Cup
SEASON RD H/A Score SCORERS
09-10 2 A 1-0 Humphreys
56-57 4 H 4-0 Harmer R Smith
Stokes Medwin
63-64 3 H 1-1 Dyson
3R A 0-2
64-65 5 A 0-1
66-67 F W 2-1 Robertson Saul
81-82 6 A 3-2 Archibald Hoddle
Hazard
01-02 6 H 0-4
06-07 6 A 3-3 Berbatov, o.g., Ghaly
06-07 6R H 1-2 Keane(pen)
11-12 SF N 1-5 Bale, 56
League Cup
71-72 S-F A 2-3 Chivers, Naylor
71-72 S-F H 2-2 Chivers, Peters
90-91 Q-F A 0-0
90-91 Q-F H 0-3
01-02 S-F A 1-2 Ferdinand
01-02 S-F H 5-1 Iversen, Sherwood
Sheringham, Davies
Rebrov
07-08 F W 2-1 Berbatov (pen), Woodgate
Never mind the arch, let's own the cup!
In the run up to tomorrow's Capital One Cup Final, there has been a campaign on twitter encouraging both sets of fans to tweet (in our case it was #SpursatWembley) "Let's own the arch"! Whatever the final result of that process, the message to the team has to be "Let's own the Cup!"
The last time we met Chelsea in any Cup competition was at Wembley on April 15th 2012 in the FA Cup semi-final, refereed by Martin Atkinson. Didier Drogba had given Chelsea a first half lead, in an evenly matched game. Then came the moment of controversy that ultimately led to defeat and heartache for Spurs, as Mr. Atkinson and his officials invented a second goal for Chelsea, despite Benoit Assou-Ekotto clearing the ball in front of and not off the goal-line. That moment demoralised Spurs and surely had everything to do with the final 5-1 scoreline, despite Gareth Bale getting one goal back to make it 2-1. Spurs had lost a sixth consecutive FA Cup semi-final. That's all the record books will show.
It is, of course, better to focus on happier times, and in the League Cup we do have happy memories of playing Chelsea in the 21st Century. Our last two Cup matches against Chelsea have been at Wembley, and the previous encounter was the glorious 2-1 win on February 24th 2008. Who can forget Berbatov's penalty and the look on his face as he celebrated the equaliser to yet another Drogba cup goal? Then there was the courage of Jonathan Woodgate, as he challenged goalkeeper Cech for a free kick floated in by Jermaine Jenas. Cech parried the ball, but Woodgate's bravery in meeting the ball and heading into the net gave us the winner. We certainly seized glory that day!
More happy memories come from the Worthington Cup semi-final of 2002, when we achieved a glorious 5-1 second leg win over a Chelsea side which included Terry and Lampard, and future Spurs Cudicini and Gallas. Sadly that year we lost a League Cup Final for the second time, against Blackburn.
There have been plenty of bad memories of recent games against Chelsea, and the sad fact is that this will be their 10th Cup Final of the 21st Century (4 in the League Cup) against Tottenham's three (all in the League Cup).
This will be Chelsea's first League Cup Final since they lost to us seven years ago, whereas Spurs returned to Wembley a year later and only lost to Manchester United on penalties.
Spurs have shown this season they can beat the very best. There is no better example than our New Year's Day 5-3 battering of the Premier League leaders. Jose Mourinho had his strongest team out, which included Nemanja Matic, who will miss this game because of his suspension. Matic's suspension has been reduced to two matches, but Mourinho and Chelsea FC are livid that their man, and not Burnley's Ashley Barnes was punished over the incident in a disappointing 1-1 draw against the relegation candidates.
Chelsea splashed the cash again in January for the Colombian defender/midfielder Juan Cuadrado, who was signed from Fiorentina. Cuadrado is still settling in at his new club, but may get a League Cup introduction here, because of Matic's enforced absence.
As I mentioned in my Fiorentina report, Maurico Pochettino has been managing the minutes played by his plaers very carefully in the busy run-up to this game. His big decision is going to be to play Hugo Lloris or Michel Vorm in goal. Vorm has played every minute of our campaign to date (as has Vertonghen), whilst Hugo has to be the fans' choice to try and prevent Chelsea scoring. Chelsea have had the mid-week off, but they do have a Premier League trip to West Ham to think about. Jose Mourinho might rest one or two of his players with this in mind. Ramires is likely to miss the suspended Matic. We do, of course, know that Chelsea will be favourites. However, they were favourites to beat us on New Years' Day too!
Most of the Spurs team which beat Chelsea 5-3 will start tomorrow. Eric Dier travelled with the squad to Italy, but was rested, and will replace Fazio, whose weakness against pace was again evident on Thursday. Of the likely Spurs starters tomorrow, only Lloris and Eriksen played 90 minutes against Fiorentina. My guess is Lloris; Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Mason, Bentaleb; Townsend, Eriksen, Chadli; Kane.
Can we do it tomorrow? of course we can! We've shown what we can do against Chelsea recently, and I am sure the whole squad has been building up for this opportunity since we squeezed through the semi-final against Sheffield United. It's one game, and our last chance to "seize glory" this season.
The implications of defeat for Spurs for the remainder of the season are not worth contemplating before the game. Let's all enjoy another day at Wembley and come back with the cup!
Tomorrow's match referee will be Anthony Taylor, who has already officiated in three of our games this season. They were the home win over QPR, and defeats against Newcastle (home) and Crystal Palace (away).
· On 2nd March 10 years ago, we had FA Cup success in a fifth round replay at Nottingham Forest, winning 3-0.
· Spurs' record in recent London Derby League matches
· How we got there. Check out previous match reports this season.
Top of page | Index to 2014-15 Match Reports
| 
