As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the game. E-mail paul@thescore.ie, tweet @thescore_ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.
You may need to refresh the page for YouTube videos and other elements to display correctly.
Hello, and welcome to this afternoon’s liveblog.
We’ll have the team news for you momentarily…
Here are the teams…
Interesting that Terry, Cahill and Zouma all start for Chelsea. One of the three will presumably occupy the David Luiz-esque midfield role, with Matic currently unavailable.
Townsend v Lamela seems to be the one big call for Spurs, with the England winger winning a starting spot perhaps on account of his greater work-rate.
Here’s the scene outside the ground as we get ready for kick-off.
(The Bobby Moore statue stands proudly outside the stadium during the Capital One Cup final at Wembley)
Chelsea have started well.
Jose Mourinho’s side have enjoyed the majority of the possession and territory, but have yet to carve out a clear-cut chance.
A sloppy pass from Walker allows Chelsea to break.
Tottenham eventually get numbers back and break up the attack, but they’ll have to watch the speedy Hazard in particular.
The Belgian international caused Spurs plenty of problems when the sides met last January.
Lloris does well to tip away a deflected Ivanovic cross to safety.
It’s been all Chelsea so far.
So close! Harry Kane wins a free kick outside the box, and Eriksen’s curling attempt subsequently hits the bar.
That’s the closest either side has come so far.
Another quick break from Spurs, but Kane’s shot is fairly tame and easily saved by Cech.
The striker will be hoping for a repeat performance of last January, when he tore Chelsea apart single-handedly at times.
Diego Costa holds the ball up well and plays it to Hazard, who curls a first-time shot just wide from outside the box.
Both sides are looking threatening on the counter-attack.
There were some lively scenes before kick-off.
After an exciting opening, the game’s gotten a little scrappy in recent minutes.
As I type though, Rose bursts forward, before flashing a shot well wide.
Tottenham have looked more settled in recent minutes, after a conspicuously nervy opening period.
Their fans, perhaps noticing this, are currently in fine voice.
A powerful cross from Kyle Walker has just eluded everyone.
Tottenham are passing it about confidently now, and enjoying a good spell, though Chelsea continue to look sharp on the break.
Chelsea are defending surprisingly deep, as Spurs continue to probe.
Meanwhile, Dier has just been booked for a needlessly rash challenge on Costa.
Chelsea’s system seems to be having problems right now.
Zouma in midfield has been a failed experiment so far, with Tottenham looking increasingly dominant in that area.
As I type, Eriksen’s snapshot is comfortably saved by Cech.
Chadli robs the ball off Ramires, and Tottenham break.
However, the Belgian player’s attempt to find Kane is well intercepted by Terry.
It’s been a relatively open game, even if it has yet to produce many clear chances.
Good build-up play by Tottenham, but again it’s a poor finish, as Mason’s shot goes well over.
Spurs have so far lacked a killer instinct, and may ultimately rue failing to fully capitalise on this period of dominance.
The young centre-back has looked very hyper.
CHELSEA 1-0 TOTTENHAM (TERRY 44)
Against the run of play, Chelsea lead.
A free-kick is played in and it falls to Terry, whose shot finds the back of the net via a deflection.
So 1-0 at half-time. Tottenham have been the better team, outplaying Chelsea in midfield, but Jose Mourinho’s side have shown the type of ruthlessness that has consistently been evident in their play this season.
Zouma has looked uncomfortable in midfield at times, though Spurs failed to make the most of their dominance, enjoying plenty of possession but failing to do enough in the final third to make Chelsea sweat.
Down the other end, Chelsea have threatened sporadically, while Eric Dier is lucky to still be on the field after a couple of rash challenges on Diego Costa.
Hazard finds himself in a good position, but his cross deflects harmlessly away.
Fabregas then sees his attempt well saved by Lloris shortly thereafter.
Another goal now would surely win it for Chelsea.
Tottenham still enjoying a good degree of possession.
However, at the moment, you get the feeling that they’re hoping rather than believing that they can score whenever they go forward.
Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham (Costa 55)
Costa finds space in the area and his shot takes a deflection off Walker and goes in.
Mourinho’s men have one hand on the League Cup without playing particularly well.
More good passing from Spurs, before Bentaleb balloons a shot well over.
It’s looking a little desperate now from Spurs, with just an hour played.
Hazard plays a one-two with Willian, before curling a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the box.
A third goal would undoubtedly seal the game for Chelsea now.
Hazard crosses to Fabregas, whose header is just off target.
There’s little sign of a late rally from Spurs, who look a beaten team right now.
Erik Lamela is on for Ryan Mason, as Tottenham bid to make one last push to save this game.
The match has become very scrappy of late, as Chelsea pragmatically look to see it through with plenty of tactical fouls etc.
Awful stuff from Tottenham.
They have a free kick in a good position, but Dier strays offside as Eriksen chips it in and the linesman raises his flag.
Close! A corner is flighted in and Kane heads it on, with Lamela narrowly failing to get on the end of it
Just 15 more minutes for Chelsea to hold on.
Soldado has replaced Chadli as Tottenham make their final substitution.
Meanwhile, Lamela shows signs of frustration with what looks like an elbow on Costa.
Both sides look jaded now.
Tottenham have gone all-out attack and could easily be exposed if Chelsea string a decent counter-attack together.
Kane breaks through on goal but Terry makes a superb last-ditch tackle to deny him.
The Chelsea skipper has been outstanding today.
Spurs are really applying the pressure now, but Chelsea’s defence are standing firm.
Looks like Jose Mourinho is set to win his first trophy since returning as Chelsea manager.
Kane powers towards goal, but Cahill this time makes a well-judged challenge.
Didier Drogba is about to come on, in what Martin Tyler describes as a “sentimental substitution”.
FULL-TIME: CHELSEA 2-0 TOTTENHAM
CHELSEA ARE THE 2015 LEAGUE CUP CHAMPIONS!
So it’s all over.
Tottenham started brightly and dominated the midfield at times, but Chelsea’s greater potency in the final third ultimately proved to be the difference between the sides.
Spurs will be disappointed that they couldn’t emulate their win over Chelsea in January, but ultimately failed to capitalise during the period when they were on top.
Chelsea took full advantage of some defensive lapses, before showing their strength at the back in comfortably seeing the game out to earn a deserved victory.
It’s Jose Mourinh0′s first trophy since his return as Chelsea manager, and one suspects it won’t be his last.
He’s gone full John Terry!
Compared to Jones,Lancaster is a breath of fresh air.
But as a supporter would you rather your opponents liked you and you lost or disliked you and you win.
Even as an Ireland supporter I feel somewhat more comfortable with an English setup I can despise again. Now all he has to do is get Ashton back into the team…
@john free: England actually had a very good win rate under Lancaster. Obviously not as good as under Jones, but it’s not the difference between win or lose. More the difference between win mist of the time and win all of the time.
I say sign the two lads up again. Seems to be working and most leister fans are happy at the halfway stages
He was unlucky to get sacked jones is living off the team he built
What about the Leinster fans though??
No matter what, I would love to have him still coaching in Ireland next season. Be that with Connacht or Leinster, he’s top quality and chances like this don’t come around to often.
Leinster need to bite the bullet & appoint Lancaster.
How about Lancaster stays on at Leinster as head coach and Cullen goes to Connaught to further his carrier think it would be a win win for all…
@Glenn Finlay: not hard to guess your a Leinster fan rather than Connacht.
Reports suggest that Doak is heading to Connacht.
Groan.
Whilst SL is obviously a decent bloke with a proven track record of developing talent, he was totally out of his depth coaching England. His selection policy was totally inconsistent and his grasp of tactics muddled. Anyone who consistently picked Brad Barritt at 12 or 13 and also left Itoje out of the RWC because he “wasn’t ready” – despite the rest of the world realising he was – clearly didn’t have a clue.
It’s instructive that, when mooted as becoming Harlequins director of rugby, the England players at ‘Quins vetoed the move.
To say EJ is “living off the team he built” is wrong. It’s more like Jones had exactly the same players to pick from that SL did but somehow managed to win the Grand Slam, beat the Aussies 4-0 and rack up an unbeaten year.
Lancaster may develop over time, with junior roles but any club installing him as the main man would be taking a big risk as he has no track record of successfully running a top side.
People seem to forget his English failure was down to his captain going for 5 points and a win rather than take a simply 3 and a draw in the World Cup pool of death. A draw in that game and england progress in their home tournament and who knows what might have happened.
Since he’s gone england has returned to a horrible team coached and captained by thugs
Exactly Chris. Lancaster had started off with kids and created a very good young team and developed some very good players. They’d also beaten the All Black’s a couple of times during his time but he will somehow be seen as a failure because his captain made the wrong decision.
@Chris Mcdonnell:
That failure againt Wales was down to poor coaching and preparation. If you have a bright captain (like Sam Warburton) then you let him decide to take the 3 or not because he understands the bigger picture and can think clearly under stress. If you have a dumb captain then you go over all the possible scenarios before the game so that he knows which option to take. Although Robshaw had already taken two highly publicised wrong options previously this failsafe obviously hadn’t been done.
This lack of coaching/preparation was evident when Billy Vunipola had scored the bonus point try in the group game against Fiji and when interviewed afterwards he didn’t realise that there was a bonus point for four tries!
Lancaster’s failure wasn’t simply not getting out of the RWC group. It was not moving the England team along one iota from where he’d started. After 4yrs he still had no idea of his ideal XV or how they were going to play.
” england has returned to a horrible team coached and captained by thugs”
That’s a bit harsh! No-one was complaing Japan were coached by thugs when they beat the Boks wre they? As an England fan I’m glad people don’t like us. They’re not supposed to.
@Paul K Murphy:
Indeed. Well said.
He does seem like a really genuine, nice bloke.
Hopefully he’ll do some good things in the future.
I think Lancaster is enjoying being away from the spotlight of the English media. His head coach role with Leinster also allows him a more hands on role that an English club director of rugby role may not.
Hopefully the enjoyment of his job will see Lancaster bring his family over and re-sign with Leinster.The IRFU cannot and wont compete financially with an English club if one comes in.
Leinster Impact , the pro 12 franchise.
I think Lancaster’s role is different to McQuilkin’s. McQuilkin was focused on defence predominantly and had more time to invest in tackle technique etc.
Lancaster seems to be doing a bit of everything-technical coaching, attack coaching, defence coaching etc-and haso less time to focus on defence as a result.
Replying to @Sup there.
His record and development of young players at Leeds Tykes (Yorkshire Carnegie) and England RFU Development role, would be good for either Connacht or Leinster. Remember every coaching job ends in failure at some point.
Dipping his toe before the money is back on the table.
Statistically The Leinster defense has gotten worse since he came in.
Attacking wise there seems to be more structure but is that his influence or girve?
His attack responsibilities are usually set piece plays, those have been very good. Bit much to expect him to do better than McQuilken in defence, but it’s not been too bad either, their defence still holds up well. I’m sure his influence in the academy and passing experience on to Cullen has helped things too.