Tottenham Hotspur managed to come from a goal behind against their bitter London rivals Chelsea yesterday in North London as they faced off in a Carabao Cup fourth-round tie.
Erik Lamela cancelled out Timo Werner’s first-half strike late on before the Argentine, Dier, Kane, Hojbjerg, and Moura all scored in a perfect Spurs penalty shootout to win.
Let’s take a look at the five things we learned from the match:
Quarter-final!
Tottenham have now qualified for their first quarter-final of the season, despite enduring a rather torrid run of fixtures in the opening few weeks of the campaign!
When you gotta go, you gotta go –
Eric Dier proved the old saying right last night, when nature calls, you have to go. The central defender was seen sprinting down the tunnel as play continued behind him, Mourinho in hot pursuit to hurry him along. Thankfully, Dier made it out before Chelsea could take advantage and later scooped the man-of-the-match award.
Reguilon debut –
Although he sold himself early on for the Werner opener, Sergio Reguilon played extremely well in his Tottenham debut, serving as a constant threat down the left-hand side. It only seemed right that it would be his assist that hauled Spurs back into the game late on. What a player we could have on our hands here.
New system –
Ignoring the gaping hole where a striker should have been, we were given a glimpse into a new Tottenham system last night. Mourinho started with five across the back, playing Aurier and Reguilon as attacking wing-backs, which became more prominent in the second 45. With the additions of Reguilon and Doherty this summer, I expect to see wing-backs far more often this season.
Jose knows how to win –
This was supposed to be Tottenham’s throw away fixture from the three they face this week, yet Mourinho managed to engineer a hard-fought win with a second-choice XI.
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