LONDON: Chelsea produced the perfect response to manager Maurizio Sarri’s weekend criticism to beat London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on penalties on Thursday and set up a League Cup final showdown against holders Manchester City.

Sarri had questioned the mental strength of his squad and demanded star forward Eden Hazard delivered more on his abundant potential in the wake of a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday, and the Italian got the response he desired against an injury-ravaged Spurs.

Trailing 1-0 from the semi-final first leg, Chelsea turned the tie on its head with goals by N’Golo Kante and Eden Hazard in the first half but Fernando Llorente struck for Spurs in an enthralling Stamford Bridge duel.

Chelsea had 20 goal attempts to Tottenham’s five but the visitors held firm to set up a penalty shootout.

Christian Eriksen scored Tottenham’s first spot-kick but team mate Eric Dier, the hero of England’s World Cup shootout win over Colombia last year, fired over and Lucas Moura’s penalty was well-saved by goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Chelsea’s penalties were more clinical and David Luiz slotted past Paulo Gazzaniga to seal the victory and send Chelsea into the Februaty 24 final against City at Wembley Stadium, giving Sarri a chance to claim his first managerial silverware.

“I think that in the last three or four matches we had a problem. One problem was the motivation and the other problem was the players stopped having fun on the pitch. Now with the performance and the result we can find enthusiasm again,” said Sarri.

Tottenham, who had been seeking a first trophy since the 2008 League Cup, saw their advantage from the first leg wiped out in the 27th minute when Kante’s strike went through the legs of midfielder Moussa Sissoko and goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.

Hazard, who was labelled an “individual player” and “not a leader” by Sarri on Wednesday, put Chelsea 2-1 ahead on aggregate in the 38th after meeting Cesar Azpilicueta’s cut-back.

“I don’t care, I just play my football,” Hazard said, “and it doesn’t matter what the manager says.”

Llorente’s header five minutes into the second half took the game to penalties.

The wait goes on for Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino, who is yet to win a trophy as a manager. Pochettino, though, took pride in a performance which came in the absence of injured duo Harry Kane and Dele Alli, and Son Heung-min, who is on international duty with South Korea.

“I told the players that the way we came back after the first half, it was one of the best games we played,” Pochettino said. “We enjoyed the game, scored and had a few chances more.”

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2019