Harry Kane scores a penalty awarded by VAR to give Spurs Carabao Cup advantage over Chelsea

Harry Kane kept his cool from the penalty spot to give Tottenham a 1-0 win in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final against rivals Chelsea.

Tottenham Hotspur go to Stamford Bridge with a one-goal lead from Harry Kane’s penalty, although it was a lead they clung to for the second half as if this were the latter stages of the tie itself rather than just the first leg in which they should have been pressing the home advantage while they had it. Chelsea came after them, a club of serial winners in the modern era, sensing an uncertainty about Pochettino’s team that their manager could hardly have denied himself.

The goal itself was a video assistant referee call, delivered from the monitors in Stockley Park in west London while Wembley twiddled its thumbs and referee Michael Oliver told everyone to be patient. An earlier offside decision was overruled by VAR which meant that Kepa Arrizabalaga’s clumsy foul on Kane was a penalty after all, and the goal machine himself dispatched the ball past the Chelsea goalkeeper despite the long wait.

At that point, Maurizio Sarri’s team were struggling to fit their new formation, with Eden Hazard again central and yet once they had the lead Spurs never went in for the kill. This was their second Wembley victory over Chelsea in less than two months but given the place in the final that remains at stake it felt inadequate. They finished the game defending a lead that Sarri’s players will surely believe they can overhaul when the tie concludes at Stamford Bridge on Jan 24.

There was no Alvaro Morata in the Chelsea side, left out on the premise of what was a very vague-sounding injury and not even on the bench. In his place as central striker was Eden Hazard as the most reluctant of false nines with Hudson-Odoi to his right and Willian to his left.