Chelsea won the League Cup after professionally disposing of Tottenham at Wembley. The Blues, last winners of this competition in 2007, took the lead late in the first half when John Terry smashed home from close range, and Diego Costa made sure of the result just ten minutes after the restart after his shot deflected in off of Kyle Walker. Petr Cech, something of a surprise inclusion considering Thibaut Courtois' stunning performance across both legs of the Blues' semi-final tussle with Liverpool, was barely employed in the Chelsea goal as Spurs - abject at best - looked a shade of the side that beat the Blues in that epic 5-3 encounter at White Hart Lane on New Year's Day. This win - Chelsea's fifth League Cup triumph, and third in eleven years - offers some reconciliation for that painful Premier League defeat, at the same time as avenging the Blues' defeat in the 2008 final between the same sides. This time, there will be no DVD in the Tottenham club shop. Chelsea had the better of the opening exchanges, twice heading wide half-chances, but it was Mauricio Pochettino's men who had the first meaningful attempt when Christian Eriksen's freekick came crashing off the woodwork, though Cech, well positioned, appeared to be in control of the situation. After that eventful start, the game entered a cat-and-mouse stage of relative insipidity. Tight, tense, and tactical, the opening thirty minutes belied the fact that eleven goals had been shared across the two Premier League meetings between the sides this term. Eriksen had a shot comfortably smothered by Cech, but the packed out Wembley crowd were forced to wait until near the end of the half for the next significant action in the penalty area. And that constituted the opening goal for Chelsea, who, despite not being at their best, showed their qualities from set piece situations as Willian's wing delivery was eventually bundled in by Blues skipper Terry for his sixth goal of the season. It might have been an even greater half-time lead for the West Londoners as Lloris plucked a Gary Cahill header out of the air to ensure that Spurs entered the interval a goal down - despite the Lilywhites arguably shading the first half in terms of effort and attacking endeavour. If that goal was a blow to the stomach for Tottenham, then Costa's 56th minute strike was the proverbial coup de grace. Having already been under substantial Blues pressure which had seen Jan Vertoghen deflect an Eden Hazard ball across the face of goal rather than into it, and a sublime Cesc Fabregas overhead kick from a long throw, Fabregas turned provider for Costa to smash home via a deflection off of Kyle Walker. Whether the goal is Costa's or a Tottenham own goal is irrelevant - that goal sucked the spirit out of Chelsea's cross-city rivals, and Pochettino, in the pouring rain, cut a downbeat figure whilst José Mourinho pranced about with a supreme, near-arrogant strut in his technical area. Hazard, with a shot that dipped and curved towards the target was a whisker away from making it 3-0 not long after, and an unmarked Fabregas headed wide following a creative short freekick routine instigated by Willian and Hazard; the latter of whom was growing in stature as the game wore on. Tottenham, applauded with laurels for their numerous late shows this season, barely threatened in the second half, mustering no efforts on target as Cech recorded yet another Wembley clean sheet. Harry Kane, likely to be named the league's outstanding Young Player of the Season, failed to live up to his nickname of "Hurricane" as he was marshalled well by Terry and the much-maligned Gary Cahill. Amidst the lashing rain, Kane was little more than a brief shower on this occasion. Terry and Didier Drogba led the Blues up the 107-step climb to lift the famous old trophy. Throw in the fact that Manchester City were defeated by a terrific Liverpool side at Anfield earlier today - ensuring the Blues now have a game in hand to extend their at-present five point lead at the top of the Premier League - and this makes for one memorable weekend for Chelsea fans. The significant thing here is that Chelsea did not celebrate too hard. The joy was palpable, yes, but the Blues acted like there is still business to be done.
