Chelsea assistant Gianfranco Zola believes the club should produce their best performance if they are to overcome Tottenham Hotspur at the semi-final stage of the League Cup. The Blues reached the last four of the Cup competition on Wednesday night after they secured a slender 1-0 triumph over Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth.
He said:“Everyone is very excited to be facing them again. We are happy because, some time ago, they gave us a good footballing lesson. We’re looking forward to challenging them again. There are a lot of proud players in our team. Of course they will want to play this game and show we were not the ones playing in that game. Too many players under-played. Some of them were hurt. They will be looking forward to it.”
Chelsea dominated the proceedings against Bournemouth with more than two-thirds of the possession but they could not find the scoresheet until the 84th minute with Eden Hazard being their saviour once more. A foot injury meant that the Belgian was not risked from the off but manager Maurizio Sarri pretty much had no choice but to use him to make the difference with the new competition format taking the game to penalties, should the scores remain the same at normal time.
Meanwhile, the Blues should now shift their interest to the Premier League where they are scheduled to face Leicester City at Stamford Bridge this weekend. The west London outfit are currently occupying the fourth position on the table with a three-point advantage over fifth-placed Arsenal.