This Wednesday sees the second leg of the Carabao Cup Semi-Final, and this game looks like it could be great for a Bet Builder. With Spurs trailing Chelsea 2-0 after a truly horrendous first leg performance, including a comical own goal where Japhet Tanganga decided to head the ball straight into his teammate Ben Davies who was powerless to stop it flying into an empty net. Since then, Spurs have lost Son for the rest of January to a muscle injury, and it is looking increasingly unlikely that Antonio Conte’s side will be reaching a second Carabao Cup Final in a row, having lost last year’s final to Manchester City. However, given how poor Spurs were in the first leg, Chelsea would have wanted at least a third goal to really seal the game, and an early goal for Spurs would open this semi-final right back up again.

Chelsea’s form has been patchy for some time now, with a string of poor results over the Christmas period dropping them from title favourites to maybe now being out of contention entirely. The European Champions seem to have gone off the boil, and will have been thankful that Spurs decided to not show up in the first leg, allowing them to cruise to a comfortable victory. They do however have the small matter of a trip to the Etihad to face Man City at the weekend and this will surely play on Thomas Tuchel’s mind when he is selecting his team. Expect some rotation as he rests key players for a game that could be their final throw of the dice in the title race this year. 

Tottenham meanwhile have a similarly tough North London Derby to play at the weekend, but not only are they given an extra day’s rest between this game and the derby on Sunday than Chelsea will get, their opponents Arsenal will play on Thursday night. Rotation and resting players for this game will no doubt be less of a concern for Conte, and he will hope to exploit the distraction that the Man City game will undoubtedly be for a thin Chelsea squad, to bring this tie back from the brink and send Spurs through. I’d expect almost a full-strength Spurs team to start this game, and for their fans to be right up for this as they try to make amends for an extremely limp performance considering it was the first leg of a semi-final against a local rival.

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Tottenham v Chelsea Bet Builder Tips

Tottenham to Win or Draw

As detailed above, there are a good few reasons to expect that Spurs will be more up for this game, and quite simply, they can’t be any worse than their display in the first leg. With Chelsea’s team likely to be way off full-strength, and considering the amount of players they are missing through injury and COVID, there is a great opportunity for Spurs to take the game to Chelsea. I’m not convinced they will have enough to ultimately go through, but they will push Chelsea much more in this return leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and I would be surprised if they didn’t at least get a draw in this one. Chelsea have six players missing, all of whom (apart from Trevoh Chalobah) are guaranteed starters if they are fit. While the loss of Son is big for Spurs, their other missing players, Romero and Bergwijn are not anything close to nailed-on starters, and they can definitely do without. 

The way that Tottenham were embarrassed in that first leg makes me think there is little to no chance of the same happening again, and their manager is not one to accept such performances from his players. There must be a response tonight, and the circumstances are all lined up to provide them with the best possible opportunity to provide one. It won’t be easy against one of the best sides in the country, but this will be Spurs’ best opportunity of claiming some silverware this season, and the players and coach will know that they must do everything in their power to grasp it. They have shown they can mix it with the best teams this season already, not least in their 2-2 draw with Liverpool a few weeks ago, that they really should have won, and there is no reason to believe they can’t get at least a draw in this one too. They are also unbeaten at home in their last 4 and they will be sure to take the game to Chelsea and attempt to ensure it becomes 5 in a row.

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Oliver Skipp to be Booked

With six bookings already this season in the league alone, Oliver Skipp is by far the most cautioned player in either squad, and he was fortunate not to have picked up a booking in the first leg. His last league start also saw him cautioned, and though his fouls per 90 is not particularly exceptional at 1.47, it is the nature of the fouls he makes, as he shields the Spurs back-line, and is forced to make tactical fouls to prevent attacks. Spurs will have to press forward in this game, and this will leave them exposed to fast breaks involving Chelsea’s pacey forward players. Skipp will be required to prevent these counter-attacks from getting into dangerous areas, and will no doubt be caught out once or twice in the 90 minutes. 

Andre Marriner is the referee for this one, and at 4.4 yellows per 90, he is more than happy to dish out cards when required. Not only will Skipp be forced to cover fast attacking threats running at an exposed Spurs’ defence, he will also find himself up against some combination of Loftus-Cheek (3.64 fouls drawn per 90), Barkley (2.35), Kovacic (2.21) or Jorginho (1.83) in the Chelsea central midfield area. All four of these players feature on the Cheat Sheet below for fouls drawn, and their press resistance will encourage fouls throughout, meaning even if Skipp isn’t forced into any cynical tactical fouls, he may receive a caution simply through an accumulation of small fouls, especially if the game is tight and begins to get fractious, as we might well expect from a semi-final. 

Overall, there looks to be a great chance of cards in this one, and Skipp would be my number one pick for a player to receive one.

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Harry Kane to Score Anytime

If Spurs are to take the game to Chelsea, there is only one realistic source of goals for the North London side. Kane may have underperformed his own high standards this season, but his numbers for shots and shots on target outclass everyone else in the squad by a significant margin. Kepa is a solid backup goalkeeper for Chelsea, and despite being mostly untested, he still produced a solid performance. Kane will be keen to give the Spaniard a much stronger test in this second leg, and producing 1.32 shots on target per 90 and 3.14 shots per 90 suggests he is certainly capable. If Spurs are struggling they will look to their captain for inspiration, and he has the ability to pull something out of nowhere and break open a stubborn defence. 

Chelsea are also likely to be missing Thiago Silva, and may have to use the inexperienced Malang Sarr to partner Rudiger. Sarr has looked quite shaky on most of his appearances for Chelsea this season, and Kane will use his own experience to target the young centre-back, should he play. Kane is also in better form than might be outwardly obvious, with four goals in his last seven appearances, and though he was forced to come on at the weekend to help get Spurs over the line, he will have appreciated something of a rest in the lead-up to this game. 

Kane also comes into this one having not failed to have at least one shot on target in 12 matches in all competitions, taking two or more shots in all but one of these games. There is a great chance Kane will get himself on the scoresheet for the fifth time in eight matches tonight. Alternatively, if you don’t fancy Kane to score, it is currently 1.73 for him to have 2 or more shots on target, which is a great price considering his recent record and the likely strength of the two sides.

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Sign up to Paddy Power and get a full refund if your first bet loses. Grab an account through the offer below and place £30 on my 11/1 Tottenham vs Chelsea Bet Builder. Here are the two possible outcomes:

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* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets, my predicted line-ups can be found below *

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Tottenham vs Chelsea Cheat Sheet

Tottenham Predicted 11 vs Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Sarr, Alonso; Ziyech, Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho, Mount; Pulisic, Lukaku, Werner (4-3-3)

Chelsea Predicted 11 vs Tottenham: Lloris; Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Royal, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Reguilon; Alli; Moura, Kane (3-4-1-2)

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Tottenham vs Chelsea Cheat Sheet

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* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *

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How to watch Tottenham vs Chelsea in the Carabao Cup

📅   When is Tottenham vs Chelsea? / Wednesday, 12 January 2022, 19:45
🏟   Where is Tottenham vs Chelsea? / Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)
📺   What TV Channel is Tottenham vs Chelsea on? / Sky Sports Football
📱   Online Live Streaming for Tottenham vs Chelsea? / bet365
🟨   …And who is the referee for Tottenham vs Chelsea? / Andre Marriner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿