Thomas Tuchel has a 100 per cent record in semi-finals since arriving at Stamford Bridge a year ago, having guided us successfully to the FA Cup and Champions League finals last season, and remains on course to make it three semi-final wins out of three with the Blues thanks to two first-half goals in a game we dominated almost from start to finish.

Our performance owed much to the speed with which we began the tie, sprinting out of the starting blocks to put Tottenham on the back foot right away. That was underlined when it took just five minutes for Kai Havertz to open the scoring, doing well to stay on his feet under pressure and roll a shot past Hugo Lloris from close range, albeit via Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez, after brilliant work by Marcos Alonso to win the ball back in a dangerous area.

That goal and the pace we were imposing on the game seemed to rattle Tottenham and when we added our second before half-time, it was an absolute gift, as Japhet Tanganga headed a clearance straight into his team-mate Ben Davies, who knew nothing about it as the ball bounced off him and into the back of the net for an own goal.

Fortunate as it was, it was no less than we deserved and so big was the gulf between the sides for much of this first leg, Tuchel and his players will probably come away disappointed that they weren’t able to extend our lead further in the second half, despite becoming the first team to win a domestic match against Antonio Conte's Spurs.

The selection

Thomas Tuchel made six changes to his side, inclding Romelu Lukaku's return to the starting line-up after being excluded from the squad against Liverpool on Sunday, joining Kai Havertz in a front two as our ever growing list of absentees forced a change of system to a back four.

Jorginho and Saul Niguez were both introduced to the starting line-up as Mateo Kovacic and N'Golo Kante made way, while Hakim Ziyech also came in on the right wing, while Mason Mount retaining his place on the opposite flank.

With Tuchel, Malang Sarr came into the side as part of a new-look back four, alongside Antonio Rudiger in the middle, with Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso as full-backs. Kepa Arrizabalaga started as our goalkeeper after Edouard Mendy departed for the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal.

Wasting no time

Chelsea started the game strongly and were the ones taking the early initiative, with Lukaku threatening with a powerful and direct run in the very first minute, and it wasn't long at all before we took the lead at Stamford Bridge.

In fact, there was a little shy of five minutes on the clock when Alonso judged his timing perfectly to nip in and take the ball of Emerson Royal’s toes high up the pitch on the left. As Tottenham’s defenders backpedalled trying to recover, he rolled a well-weighted through-ball behind Tanganga and into the path of Havertz.

The German did well to stay on his feet as Tanganga clipped his heels and rolled a low finish past Lloris from close range, which was helped across the line by Sanchez’s desperate attempt to clear.

Unfortunately it came at a cost as Havertz was injured in his fall following Tanganga’s challenge as he scored and required lengthy treatment on the touchline as the game restarted. Spurs briefly tried to take advantage of the situation by pushing for a quick equaliser while we were down to 10 men, but it came to nothing and Havertz was able to continue with heavy strapping on his right hand.

Kai could even have added his name to the scoresheet a second time not long after the 10-minute mark, albeit through a stroke of luck. There seemed to be little danger when Azpilicueta tried to curl a cross in from the right, but the Tottenham defenders made a mess of it and a sliced clearance went across goal towards Havertz 10 yards out, but his first-time shot lacked power and Lloris was able to get down and save at his near post.

Blues in complete control

We weren’t dropping the pace either, as Chelsea continued to dominate possession and push for a second goal as the first half wore on, Saul and Mount both having efforts charged down on the edge of the box, before Ziyech curled a shot just over the bar after cutting in from the right.

When Tottenham did venture forward and tried to feed the ball to Harry Kane in the box, he was comfortably shepherded aside by Rudiger, allowing Kepa to leisurely come and claim.

As the first third of the game came to an end, it was being played exclusively in Tottenham’s half, although further chances were proving difficult to come by.

When the next sight of goal did arrive, again it came from a defensive error by our opponents. This time Tanganga misjudged the flight of an outswinging Ziyech corner, allowing it ricochet off his thigh towards Rudiger, but the opportunity seemed to catch the German by surprise and by the time he had adjusted his body, Tanganga had recovered enough to block the shot.

However, that was nothing compared to the gift we received from Spurs before much longer, with Tanganga at the heart of it again. It was another forceful Lukaku run that led to the chance, as he refused to give up on the ball and Sanchez resorted to bringing him down for a free-kick wide on the right.

When that was flighted in towards the six-yard box by Ziyech, Tanganga attempted to clear, but headed it straight into his team-mate Ben Davies at close range, with the ball bouncing off him comically and into the back of the net before a bewildered Lloris could react.

By now, the Blues were clearly enjoying ourselves, and pushing for another goal before the break. Lukaku couldn’t have gone much closer to finding it at the end of a slick counter-attack, started by another interception by Alonso before Havertz spread play across the pitch to Ziyech. Lukaku met his cross well and glanced a header down across goal, but it bounced a whisker wide of the post, meaning we had to settle for a two-goal lead at half-time.

Change of personnel and momentum

Both managers made a substitution during the interval, and for Tuchel it looked like another one which had been forced on him by injury, as Havertz didn’t return from the changing room and was replaced by Timo Werner, the latter making his first appearance since mid-December after a spell out with Covid.

Tottenham tried to come out of the blocks fast in the second half, though, as Azpilicueta and Saul – who was enjoying comfortably his best performance in a Chelsea shirt so far – had to be alert in our box to head clear early crosses.

That early attempt by Spurs to impose themselves on the game, or at all after their near absence of attacking intent in the first period, resulted in their first shot on goal after nearly 50 minutes, when Kane drove a low free-kick from a central position, but Kepa was more than equal to the task, stretching low to save on his right-hand side.

The game was now looking far more open and even, but we were still keeping up our end. In fact, Ziyech will probably feel he should have done better with his chance after Werner charged inside with a good run and fed Lukaku on the edge, who helped it on to Ziyech, but our No22 couldn’t get his body around the ball and his shot was too close to Lloris to trouble the France keeper.

Normal service resumed

Thankfully, by the time we entered the last half-an-hour, we had started to reassert our dominance, albeit not to the same degree as the first half, as shown when Saul attempted an audacious back-heeled volley and Werner attempted a powerful shot at the edge of the box after another clever run in from the left.

Werner was now looking the most likely to add to the scoreline and came the closest yet after another combination with Lukaku and Ziyech. This time it was in reverse order, as the Belgian held up the ball and laid it off for Ziyech, who fizzed a brilliant defence-splitting ball into Werner’s path, but unfortunately the German was denied a fantastic goal as Lloris managed to claw his attempted lob into his grasp.

However, when the Moroccan next had the chance to score himself, his effort wasn’t quite so impressive, as he lined up a volley at the back post but tried to put too much power behind it, resulting in it flying over the crossbar when he would have expected to at least test goalkeeper.

After that, and a flurry of substitutions by both sides, the chances at either end dried up considerably as the two teams seemed to catch their breath, or perhaps Spurs simply running out of steam and Chelsea happy to retain possession and carry their two-goal lead into the second leg.

Which is exactly what happened as neither goalkeeper was threatened in the closing stages, a situation that suits the Blues considerably more than our opponents, despite the game ending on a sour note as Azpilicueta became the latest player forced off with an apparent injury. 2-0 to Chelsea at the halfway in this semi-final and we are 90 minutes away from a trip to Wembley.

What's next?

We stay in domestic cup action for the next week, starting with the opening of our FA Cup campaign at Stamford Bridge against National League leaders Chesterfield on Saturday. The it is the second leg of this Carabao Cup semi-final, away at Tottenham next Wednesday.

Chelsea (4-4-2): Kepa; Azpilicueta (c) (Vale 89), Rudiger, Sarr, Alonso; Ziyech (Pulisic 79), Jorginho, Saul (Loftus-Cheek 73), Mount (Kovacic 73); Lukaku, Havertz (Werner h-t)Unused subs: Bettinelli, Hall, Barkley, Hudson-OdoiScorer: Havertz 5, Davies og 34Booked: Sarr 62

Tottenham (3-4-3): Lloris (c); Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies; Emerson Royal, Skipp (Winks 73), Hojbjerg, Doherty (Ndombele h-t); Moura (Gil 79), Kane, Son (Lo Celso 79)Unused subs: Austin, Gollini, Reguilon, Rodon, Winks, Alli

Referee: Craig Pawson

Attendance: 37,868