Chelsea progress into the Carabao Cup semi-finals after a convincing win against Brentford

Thomas Tuchel’s second half substitutions helped Chelsea beat Brentford 2-0 and progress into the last four of the Carabao Cup.

The two goals that sealed the deal for the Blues came in the last 10 minutes of the match. Firstly, Pontus Jansson’s own goal gave Chelsea the lead before a Jorginho penalty secured a spot in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.

The victory once again proved Tuchel’s managerial prowess and game management as the German got the job done while making eight changes which included debuts for Jude Soonsup-Bell, Harvey Vale and Xavier Simons.

Chelsea’s academy graduates impressed on their first senior starts for the club and helped the visitors dominate proceedings in the first half against a near-full strength Brentford side.

Thomas Tuchel praises his squad’s attitude despite heavy rotation

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The Blues’ injury and COVID-19 crisis continued ahead of the quarter-final tie and Tuchel was forced to name a much-changed squad, which included eight academy graduates.

However, the German was full of praise for how his fringe players stepped up when they were needed.

“We did everything we could to be in the semi-finals and we deserve to be there because we played brilliantly and came away a brilliant result.

“The young boys did well, they didn’t train for a week because our academy was closed because of COVID.

“They had two sessions with us, they listened very carefully to their jobs and they did good.

“I have to praise the other seven players too because they made it really easy for them and made sure they were supported, so everyone was involved in a good performance.”

The young trio showed their confidence on the ball and had an effort each at goal in the first-half with wing-back Simons going closest after a powerful strike from the edge of the box.

Despite the seamless transition from the under-23s to the first team, Tuchel was ruthless and used his five substitutes to perfection in pursuit of victory.

Chelsea had struck a patch of bad form, winning just one of their last five matches in all competitions and several cases of COVID-19 within the squad has put added strain on the regular starters.

However, the German managed their minutes to perfection and got the desired outcome as Jorginho, Reece James, Christian Pulisic, N’Golo Kante and Mason Mount all came on in the second half with the Blues still in the ascendency.

The added quality was enough to push Chelsea into their fifth Carabao Cup semi-final in the last 10 years and all the substitutes combined for the two goals with 10 minutes to go.

In the 80th minute, Kante showed great trickery to find the space to play in James down the right flank and the full-back’s low cross was turned in by the helpless Jansson at the near post to give the Blues a deserved lead.

Five minutes later, Mount’s deflected pass found Pulisic who was brought down by Brenford goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez inside the box. Jorginho coolly converted from the penalty spot to extend the lead and reward Chelsea’s dominance throughout the match.

The Blues will host bitter rivals Tottenham in the first leg of the semi-finals, however, there have been numerous reports that the competition’s two-legged semi-finals may be scrapped in order to fit in the fixtures disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak in the Premier League. If that does happen, the Blues will have home advantage and will be looking to make it through to the final in front of their home crowd.

The winners of that semi-final will face either Arsenal or Liverpool at Wembley Stadium after both clubs overcame Sunderland and Leicester in their respective quarter-final ties.

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