The low stakes of the Carabao Cup give priority to pleasure

The Carabao Cup is like a stray dog ​​that shows up in the middle of a wedding: it's weird, no one can really explain why it's there, it's an unwelcome distraction from this what you would like to be attentive to, but it is huge. of pleasure as long as nobody gets hurt.

At a time when football is so often treated either by a tut-tut against the police or by an exaggerated explosion, there is much to be said about a low-stakes competition that no one could take too seriously. Chelsea and Tottenham have happily recalled that when the sport is not taken too seriously, it begins to look more like a sport. And the games are fun!

A game is also exactly what Chelsea needed. George Costanza would have been proud of the total opposition of the first half of Chelsea: their horrible beginning shows against Arsenal. In the Emirates, they looked less completely half asleep than completely comatose. Maurizio Sarri had spoken of the difficulty of motivating this side, but they hardly need to say how awful they were the last time.

Here, they fizzled and cracked and kept Tottenham in their own camp, with Eden Hazard – back in the wing with Olivier Giroud, playing the role of beautiful doubled Gonzalo Higuain – in a particularly electric form.

As the break opened, Chelsea broke loose and headed for the final: N & # 39; Golo Kante scored a double-dipped goal that equaled an equalizer, the second coming from a fast moving and skillfully initiated by Ross Barkley, but given the impetus, who carried the ball forward before playing it wide at Cesar Azpilicueta and sprinted into the box to apply a brilliant finishing touch.

That goal was typical of the first half: the Spurs could literally not keep up with Chelsea, making more fouls (nine) in the first 45 minutes than in all 90s against Manchester United earlier this month.

In the absence of goals and extra time, 135 minutes of football lapsed five minutes after the break, when Fernando Llorente found the net – at the far right, no less – of a center of Danny Rose. This set up a fun final of 40 minutes with an extreme feeling of following goals, as if a dinette could walk the field at any time to spoil the fun by calling the time on the action.

Hazard and Christian Eriksen were the most talented boys, with Hazard pulling in a good position and Eriksen placing a superb center from the right, which Llorente was trying to take too ambitiously. he was removed in favor of Lucas Moura a few minutes later.

The slogan of the League Cup, "great if we win it but do not interest it anyway if we did not do it," meant that there was neither the advantage nor the shyness that you could expect a semi-final cut, especially because almost the entire second half was played with no side having anything to prove. Chelsea had reacted loudly to the awkwardness of their previous outing, while Tottenham had good reason to think he had again done enough to stand out from the "Spursy" label that often feels so out of date, not coming straight on the heels of taking three points, they really had no right to take against Fulham.

We are convinced that this tedious accusation will persist after the defeat of Mauricio Pochettino's men, Eric Dier and Lucas Moura failing to get the decisive shots to give a familiar and distant look to their coach's face. were helped by having more players (this time, Ben Davies and Moussa Sissoko) lame with injuries. But no one will remember this in a few months, especially if a victory on Sunday's trip to Crystal Palace turned out to be the next step in a new national cup.

For his part, Chelsea now has the reward of a trip to Wembley to face Manchester City next month. Get a top hat to this stray dog.

Steven Poulet is on Twitter