Chelsea play Tottenham in Thursday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Spurs hold a 1-0 advantage from the January 8 first leg at Wembley which the Blues must overturn to reach the February 24 final.
Here, Press Association Sport looks at five key talking points ahead of the match.
Stubborn Sarri versus malleable Mauricio
Striker shortage?
Giving youth a chance
Coming in from the cold
Helloooo u remember me ? ?? #COYS
— GK NKoudou (@gknkoudou) January 20, 2019
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou came off the substitutes’ bench at Fulham last Sunday, setting up Winks’ late winner. It was just his second appearance of the season and it had looked like he would be leaving Spurs this month. Gary Cahill, Danny Drinkwater and Victor Moses have become forgotten men at Chelsea. Cahill has the experience and fighting qualities demanded by Sarri following the meek surrender at Arsenal. Could Sarri recall the club captain? His leadership qualities may be what is missing.
Fan behaviour
We are Chelsea Together. We are fans united by a desire to end all forms of discrimination in and around Chelsea Football Club. Regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age or disability: we are Chelsea; and we are together. #ChelseaTogether
— ChelseaTogether (@TogetherChelsea) January 18, 2019
The behaviour of the supporters was under scrutiny before the first leg following prior incidents of discriminatory behaviour. UEFA has since launched an investigation into alleged racist behaviour – anti-Semitic in nature – during Chelsea’s Europa League clash with Vidi in Budapest last month. Chelsea supporters’ groups and fan media outlets have formed ‘Chelsea Together’ in a bid to eliminate discriminatory behaviour among the club’s support. Tottenham fans still used the Y word in the first leg, albeit more muted than before, after a Spurs club statement which insisted “our fans (both Jewish and gentile) have never used the term with any deliberate intent to cause offence”. Jewish leadership groups want the use of the word, no matter the intention, to be eradicated.
