Tottenham will be without Lucas Moura forTuesday's Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea.
Moura picked up a knee injury in the FA Cup win at Tranmere, while Eric Dier and
Victor Wanyama are also out.
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri is expected to
name a strong line-up as Pedro, Olivier Giroud and Willian are all set to
return from injury.
Midfielder Mateo Kovacic should recover from
illness but Ruben Loftus-Cheek is ruled out with a back injury.
There could be a start for 18-year-old winger
Callum Hudson-Odoi after he provided two assists in the 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Sarri said the youngster is a "very important player" for Chelsea
and confirmed "he is ready" to make the step up to senior football.
"He's very young. He has a very great
future here, in England, with the national team and with Chelsea," said
Sarri.
"We have very important players in the
same position. [But] I think now he is ready. Sometimes he will be on the
bench, as Willian, as Pedro. Now I can start to consider him at the same
level."
MATCH PREVIEW
Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli
scored his sixth goal in five games against Chelsea when the two teams met in
the league in November
Tottenham will host Chelsea at Wembley for the
second time this season and hope to repeat their performance from a
comfortable 3-1 win in the
Premier League in November.
Mauricio Pochettino's side outplayed a
lacklustre Chelsea team then and will be hoping to do the same as they aim to
reach the Carabao Cup final for the first time since 2014-15.
They were beaten by Chelsea that year, as Jose Mourinho
claimed his first trophy in his second spell as the Blues boss.
After Spurs scored twice in the opening 16
minutes during their meeting in November, Sarri has urged his Chelsea side to
be "more aggressive".
The tie is 50-50. It will be a very
exciting game.
"We need to approach this match in
another way, because we lost the [last] match in the first 16 minutes,"
said Sarri. "They were really more aggressive than us, more determined
than us.
"Now we know very well if we approach the
same there's no solution for us. I want to speak before about this, otherwise
it's useless to speak about tactics."
Tottenham manager Pochettino added:
"We've started the new year very well, with victories at Cardiff and
Tranmere. We know very well that it's going to be again 180 minutes, two legs.
"Chelsea are a great team, a team that
will be tough to beat. The tie is 50-50. It will be a very exciting game. We
hope to have the possibility to win and go to Stamford Bridge in a very good
position."
Tickets for the semi-final have now sold out
and a crowd of 51,000 is expected at Wembley.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- This is the ninth League Cup match between
these sides, and the first since the 2015 final - of the previous eight
meetings, Spurs have won two, Chelsea have won four with two draws.
- Spurs and Chelsea are set to meet in a League
Cup semi-final for the third time, having also done so in 1971-72 and
2001-02 - the only fixture to be played more often at this stage is
Arsenal against Spurs (four occasions).
Tottenham
- Tottenham have won their last two matches
against Chelsea, both in the Premier League - they haven't won three in a
row against their London rivals in all competitions since a run of five
between March 1961 and September 1963.
- Spurs are competing in their 15th League Cup
semi-final - only Liverpool (17) have appeared at this stage more often in
the competition's history.
- Dele Alli has scored more goals against
Chelsea (6) than he has against any other opponent in all competitions
during his career, as well as netting four goals in his last five League
Cup appearances for Spurs.
Chelsea
§ Chelsea have
qualified for the League Cup final on four of the previous five occasions
they've played the first leg away from home, despite winning just one of those
games (D2 L2).
§ Chelsea - who've
already lost to Spurs at Wembley in the Premier League this season - could
become just the second team to lose twice against the same opponent at Wembley
in a single season, after Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal in 1992-93, who
lost the League Cup final and an FA Cup final replay to the Gunners.
§ Eden Hazard has
scored in his last three League Cup appearances - the last player to score in
four consecutive appearances in the competition was Dwight Gayle in September
2015 for Crystal Palace.
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