LONDON, Jan 23 - Tottenham Hotspur swept to a thrilling 5-1 victory over Chelsea to reach the League Cup final Wednesday, finally ending a 26-game winless run against their London rivals.

Spurs’ reward for a 6-3 aggregate win, secured after a second-half sending off for Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, is a place in the final against Blackburn Rovers at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on Feb 24.

Spurs were trailing 2-1 from their semifinal first leg at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago and Steffen Iversen gave them a dream start after only two minutes with a close-range strike.

Tim Sherwood made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute, meeting Darren Anderton’s corner with a first-time shot and skipper Teddy Sheringham smacked home the third in the 50th minute before Hasselbaink’s dismissal.

Simon Davies and substitute Serhiy Rebrov completed the rout, while Chelsea substitute Mikael Forssell got their consolation goal in the 90th minute.

Meanwhile, title-chasing Arsenal moved up to second place in the Premier League Wednesday after a 3-1 victory over Leicester City.

Dutchman Giovanni Van Bronckhorst broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute and Thierry Henry steered home a right-foot shot 10 minutes later.

Muzzy Izzet pulled one back for the Foxes in the 68th minute, heading home Andrew Impey’s corner, but Sylvain Wiltord made sure of the points with a 90th-minute strike.—Reuters