Carabao Cup semi-final spot secured - match report and debrief

We booked our place in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup following a comfortable 3-1 victory against Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Gareth Bale opened the scoring in the first half but we were pegged back when Jordan Thompson levelled for the home side. A rare goal from Ben Davies put us ahead again in the 70th minute and victory was wrapped up when Harry Kane rifled home with nine minutes remaining.

After a dominant opening spell, we took a deserved lead in the 22nd minute. Harry Winks received Lucas Moura’s pass 35 yards from goal and clipped a right-footed ball into the box which Bale guided into the bottom corner with a glancing header.

We were totally in control in the first period, Dele Alli twice having efforts saved by Stoke goalkeeper Andy Lonergan, and we continued to dictate play in the early minutes after the interval, only to get caught by a sucker punch as the hosts equalised with their first shot at goal in the 53rd minute. Substitute Steven Fletcher found Jacob Brown in space down the right, his perfect cross found Thompson at the back post and he side-footed past Hugo Lloris at his near post.

That lifted the Potters and they started to see more of the ball but we regained the lead 20 minutes from time when Davies controlled Harry Souttar’s clearance 25 yards from goal and drilled a low effort which beat Lonergan and went in off the post. Heung-Min Son, off the bench at half-time, had a goal disallowed for offside six minutes later but we did add a third when another substitute, Moussa Sissoko, won possession and fed Kane with an early ball and he beat Souttar before hammering home his 10th goal in his last six appearances against Stoke.

Job done in tricky conditions

The question is often asked – ‘can they do it on a wet and windy Wednesday night in Stoke?’ – and the answer was an emphatic ‘yes’ for us on this occasion!

Apart from the concession of an equaliser early in the second half, we were rarely in trouble against the Potters – currently seventh in the Championship – and even after that setback, we responded well and quickly regained control of the game.

Stoke were forced to play 37-year-old Lonergan in goal due to an injury crisis in that position within their squad and it was his first competitive game sine playing for Rochdale in League One in March, 2019. But he wasn’t showing any signs of rustiness when he saved well from Kane’s angled drive before our opening goal and then did well to twice thwart Dele in the first half once we were ahead.

Early in the second period, Dele almost got on the end of Kane’s lovely ball over the top and we were comfortable in the game, yet the hosts scored with their very first shot at goal and that could have altered the course of the game. But we didn’t let the goal disrupt us too much and made changes to keep things fresh with Erik Lamela and Sissoko replacing Dele and Lucas. It was Lamela’s first appearance since 1 November as he returned from injury.

Davies popped up with his first goal since netting in our 4-0 win at Huddersfield Town in September, 2017, and Kane added his customary goal against the Potters to put us 3-1 up. There were a couple of late half-chances for Stoke – Fletcher heading wide and Sam Vokes bringing a save out of Lloris – but nothing that we couldn’t handle.

Bale’s back-to-back goals

There was a quirky stat to Bale’s opening goal as it meant he had scored in his last two League Cup ties for us – which were separated by 2,975 days! He had also netted against Norwich City on 31 October, 2012.

We join Brentford and Manchester City in the semi-finals of the competition, with Manchester United and Everton playing after us in the last quarter-final.

Team news saw Jose Mourinho make seven changes to the team that started against Leicester on Sunday. Lloris, Eric Dier, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Kane stayed in the side, with Matt Doherty, Davinson Sanchez, Davies, Winks, Dele, Bale and Lucas Moura coming in. The home side included our former Academy graduate Tashan Oakley-Boothe in their line-up.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'Job done'

Jose told Spurs TV after the match: "In the first half I don’t remember them having a corner, a shot, we were totally in control but not intense enough to kill the game. In the second half their goal was a transition from a ball that we lost, a ball that could end in 2-0, we lose it and then in the transition they score and from there the game is open, because of course a draw would be a good result for them to take the game to the gamble of penalties but I believe that the boys did okay. Lamela, Moussa, when they came on, they gave us some more intensity, some more dynamic, both with the ball and also without the ball we pressed much faster and much higher, so the second goal came, I believe that Sonny’s goal with VAR would also be legal and the third goal killed the game, so job done."

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Bale 22, Davies 70, Kane 81; Stoke – Thompson 53.

Yellow card: Stoke - Collins.

Referee: Darren England.

Venue: bet365 Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent.

Weather: Light rain, moderate breeze, 0 degrees.