Tuchel insists Chelsea 'have no feet' in the Carabao Cup final ahead of Spurs clash

'We have no feet in the final'

Thomas Tuchel was quick to keep Chelsea grounded ahead of Wednesday night's second-leg Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham. Despite dominating at Stamford Bridge, a two-goal lead is a lot more slender than the first half deserved. The Blues could be punished for not taking their chances in that opening 45 minutes.

The German was asked whether Chelsea already had one foot at Wembley and immediately replied "I would say we have no feet in the final."

"We don't need to lose energy thinking about one foot in the final. We play a good team and top, top coach. Not half a foot or one foot, why lose energy thinking about this?

"We need to be fully aware of everything and adapt to situations. We want to control it while attacking as much as possible. We forget the first game and do it again."

Clearly not letting that 5-1 win in the FA Cup take any focus off of what lies ahead at White Hart Lane 2.0. Better to stay fully focused when taking on any team managed by Antonio Conte - even Tottenham.

After hyping him up over a foot in the final and having it shut down, Tuchel was then asked how he could avoid complacency within the squad. The boss didn't even know the meaning of the word. But, actually, quite literally. He asked the press officer.

"We have to trust ourselves and prepare properly, always on the front foot, respect for the competition and our opponents. It is our obligation to be prepared.

"I have trust in my staff and players. We have a good result because we played a good game but now we start from scratch."

Tuchel confirmed there were no fresh injuries following the victory over Chesterfield at the weekend. While both N'Golo Kante and Thiago Silva are out of isolation after their positive Covid results last week. However, the pair will both have to pass a number of tests including heart before they return to full training.

With Manchester City lying in wait this weekend, the star duo will likely be rested for the Carabao Cup clash, potentially with an appearance on the bench. Tuchel added "I have to wait and see if Thiago and Kante are in training, it is a gamble if we do it, how much responsibility we can take."

Although he didn't do much wrong at the weekend, Marcus Bettinelli will also return to the bench with Kepa returning to the starting lineup. The Spanish keeper's form was questioned despite looking nothing but solid in each of his appearances throughout the season and the boss was full of praise for his character.

"I never experienced Kepa nervous, or jealous one single day. I've never seen him not happy for his colleague.

"The good thing is it is a very genuine trust everyone has and I felt the same for him, he is very calm and focused.

"He does not need to show in these 90 minutes that he is capable, we trust him and it is not easy being a goalkeeper, we are happy to have him. No extra speech from me."

Roll on the Carabao 

jb x