Good afternoon and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of the EFL Cup semi-final second leg between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge.
The hosts come into this match looking to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg, which Spurs won courtesy of a Harry Kane penalty.
The winners of the tie will face Manchester City in next month's final, with both Maurizio Sarri and Mauricio Pochettino searching for the first major trophy of their managerial careers.
Make sure you don't miss a moment of the action courtesy of our minute-by-minute updates below.
There is just one goal in it from the first leg, but injuries and poor form make the stories far more complicated and intriguing than that for both sides.
It promises to be a fascinating contest, so let's waste no time in starting with a look at the team news...
SUBS: Caballero, Ampadu, Alonso, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi, Willian, Piazon
SUBS: Lloris, Rose, Sanchez, Walker-Peters, Skipp, N'Koudou, Lucas
Well, we'll start with the hosts and the first thing to note is that Olivier Giroud leads the line tonight, having had to play second fiddle to Eden Hazard in recent weeks. Alvaro Morata is once again absent from the squad entirely as he nears his move to Atletico Madrid, and so this is a good chance for Giroud to impress.
It is important that the Frenchman does so too, with Gonzalo Higuain joining the club yesterday, shortly after the deadline for being able to play in this game.
Instead, Hazard will be in his favoured wide position and plenty of eyes will be on him following some headline-making comments this week. The Belgian has suggested that he could join Real Madrid in the future, while Sarri responded by challenging Hazard to improve his form.
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Hazard is without a goal in his last six outings, but the arrival of Higuain could bring out the best in him once he is back to playing regularly in the position from which he can inflict the most damage.
Pedro once again starts on the opposite flank with Willian the man to make way for Giroud - one of three changes from the defeat to Arsenal at the weekend.
It is also interesting to see Hudson-Odoi only among the subs once again, with Liverpool understood to have joined Bayern Munich in the race for the talented youngster, who started the first leg.
Those blows have been compounded by the fact that Son Heung-min has left to go on international duty at the Asian Cup, leaving Spurs with only Fernando Llorente - scorer of an own goal at the weekend - to lead the line this evening.
Lucas Moura was also a doubt for this game but is deemed fit enough for a place on the bench following a knee injury, and the Brazilian could well be another option through the middle should Llorente struggle to break down this Chelsea defence.
It looks like a 4-2-3-1 formation for Spurs tonight, rather than the diamond they have often player in recent weeks, with Winks and the fit-again Dier sitting while Sissoko and Erik Lamela play either side of Eriksen in the hole.
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The is also a switch between the sticks as Gazzaniga resumes his role as cup goalkeeper, as he did in the first leg. There are five changes to the team which won that at Wembley.
However, the Blues have only managed to progress from one of the five League Cup semi-finals in which they have lost the first leg, beating Arsenal 4-3 on aggregate in 1997-98 before going on to win the trophy.
A repeat of that result tonight would see Chelsea eliminated, of course, with the Blues needing to win by two goals or more in order to progress in normal time.
They have not had the easiest route to the final this year either, particularly first up when they had to take on a then-unbeaten Liverpool side at Anfield. Chelsea came from behind on that occasion to win courtesy of some magic from Hazard, and wins over Derby and Bournemouth followed to see them this far.
Chelsea have not won a single game in this season's competition by more than one goal, though, which is what they may need tonight.
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Right now the Chelsea fans will be far more concerned with the teams behind them rather than in front of them, though, with both Arsenal and Manchester United having now closed to within three points in the top-four race.
The Italian accused his players of lacking the mentality required and claimed that it was "extremely difficult to motivate" them, which is a real challenge to those in Blue. How they respond tonight may say a lot to how strong a hold Sarri has over his team right now.
The Blues have not lost back-to-back games so far under the Italian - and as a club have not fallen to that fate since March - so there will not doubt be a serious inquest if that occurs this evening.
In the EFL Cup alone Chelsea are unbeaten in their last nine games in a run which stretches back to January 2013, although the one match they have not won in that time came during last season's semi-final against Arsenal.
Not only does that hurt Tottenham's chances of completing the job here tonight, but the England internationals would also miss the final, one leg of their Champions League tie, at least one FA Cup outing and a string of Premier League games, so it could have a huge impact on their trophy hopes.
They have come close on a few occasions, but their most recent piece of silverware remains this very competition 11 years ago, when they incidentally beat Chelsea in the final to lift the trophy for a fourth time.
Harry Kane's penalty has given them that slender advantage going into this second leg and, while they still have plenty of work to do, they would rather be in their position than Chelsea's at this stage of the tie.
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Watford were first up and took Spurs all the way to penalties following a 2-2 draw in the 90 minutes, but Tottenham went on to win the shootout. A 3-1 triumph over West Ham followed before the most memorable of the lot - a 2-0 victory over North London rivals Arsenal at the Emirates.
Nine points now separate Pochettino's side from Premier League leaders Liverpool, meaning that they are all but out of the title race barring an unlikely collapse from both Liverpool and Man City. The Champions League is, of course, a hugely difficult competition to win, while Spurs also face a testing FA Cup London derby away to Crystal Palace on Sunday.
It was a rare slip-up, but that 1-0 defeat at Wembley allowed a nine-point gap to open up and it could have been even worse but for Winks's late winner against Fulham on Sunday.
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The last away game Spurs failed to win was a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou which sealed their place in the Champions League knockout stages too, and Pochettino's side have now lost only one of their last 15 away outings across all competitions.
It is a very difficult one to call with so little separating the two sides and Spurs missing some of their key players, and it could go all the way to penalties, with no extra time in the semi-finals either. We are going for Spurs to just about scrape through, though.
SPORTS MOLE SAYS: Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham (Tottenham win on penalties)
Tottenham have by no means had it all their own way throughout the history of this fixture, though, and should they win tonight then it would be the first time since September 1963 that they have beaten Chelsea three times on the bounce.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have not lost three games against the same opponent in a season since 2012-13 against Manchester City.
Tottenham's most recent visit came in April 2018, when Morata gave Chelsea the lead only for Eriksen and Alli (2) to turn the game around for a 3-1 win.
CHELSEA STARTING XI: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Emerson; Kante, Jorginho, Barkley; Pedro, Giroud, Hazard
TOTTENHAM STARTING XI: Gazzaniga; Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Winks, Sissoko, Eriksen, Lamela; Llorente
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Chelsea are 1-0 up against Tottenham! N'Golo Kante has scored from outside the box 🤯
Paulo Gazzaniga won't want to see this again 🙈 pic.twitter.com/0ESBjNZ8XI— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) January 24, 2019
4 - N'Golo Kante has scored four goals in 30 apps for Chelsea in all competitions this season – as many as he netted in his previous three seasons in England combined (4 in 129 apps). Upturn.— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 24, 2019
Spurs are yet to register a single shot in this match and Chelsea have been by far the better team so far. Clear chances have been relatively few and far between, but the Blues have been clinical.
Gazzaniga was unsighted and the ball did take a slight touch off a defender just in front of him, but he will still feel as though he should have done better, with the ball going straight through him before nestling into the back of the net.
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Pedro slid the ball through to Azpilicueta, who in turn picked out Hazard with a low cross into the box. From there Hazard just steered his finish into the far corner, leaving Gazzaniga no chance.
Spurs, in contrast, have barely offered any threat in the final third so far and they need to do something different in the second half if they are to get back into this tie.
8 - Fernando Llorente has scored eight goals in his last five starts for Tottenham in all competitions. Deputy. pic.twitter.com/uDLvRpC8Iz— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 24, 2019
Fernando Llorente heads Tottenham back into it!
What a game we have on our hands now! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zVUIZRAwuf— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) January 24, 2019
Chelsea were by far the better team in the first half and deserved their lead given to them by Kante and Hazard, but Llorente levelled things up on aggregate five minutes into the second half.
Both sides had chances to avoid a penalty shootout, but ultimately it was misses from Dier and Lucas which proved costly for the visitors tonight.
Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for tonight's EFL Cup clash as Chelsea book their place in the final at Tottenham's expense. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction too.
From me, though, it is goodbye for now!