By Jonathan Veal, PA
Tottenham are one game from ending a 13-year trophy drought as they booked their place in the Carabao Cup final with a 2-0 win over Brentford.
Jose Mourinho’s exceptional record in the League Cup continues as he has reached his fifth final and, promisingly for Spurs, he has won his previous four.
Moussa Sissoko’s first-half goal and a Son Heung-min strike after the break got the job done as Spurs ended a run of three successive domestic semi-final defeats.
Mourinho was brought into the club to deliver silverware and he will now eagerly wait to see the outcome of Wednesday’s second semi-final between Manchester City and Manchester United – both teams who Spurs have beaten this season.
Brentford had beaten four Premier League teams to reach their first major semi-final and things might have been different had Ivan Toney’s equaliser not been ruled out for a marginal offside as they ended the night with 10 men following Josh Da Silva’s red card.
But this was all about Spurs and their quest to finally win some silverware.
Mourinho does not lose semi-finals in this competition and his team selection against the Championship side showed that he was not prepared to risk it here as a strong spine of a team was spearheaded by Harry Kane and Son in attack.
Job done! ✅
? We're on our way to the @Carabao_Cup final! #THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/mmRGHL5L7K
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 5, 2021
And that team selection was rewarded as Spurs took a 12th-minute lead, from an albeit unlikely source.
They worked the ball out to the left and Sergio Reguilon, back in the side after his coronavirus rule-breaking indiscretion, delivered an inviting ball into Sissoko, who planted a header into the top corner.
It was the Frenchman’s first goal since December 2019 and came via his first on-target effort of the season.
Spurs were happy to concede possession to Thomas Frank’s side but they were the ones who looked like adding to their lead.
Son brought a flying save out of David Raya with a curling shot from the edge of the area and then the Brentford goalkeeper clawed away Lucas Moura’s deflected header from Son’s corner.
Although they dominated possession in the first half, Brentford rarely looked like scoring, but they got their first opening shortly after the restart.
Bryan Mbeumo got in behind Davinson Sanchez, wriggled free in the penalty area where he might have gone down, before teeing up Ivan Toney, but the in-form striker was denied by a heroic block from Serge Aurier.
It was an eventful couple of minutes for the right-back as moments later he found himself bursting into Brentford’s area and the ball fell to him in a great position, but he lost his composure and fired over.
Those missed chances looked to have cost Spurs as Brentford thought they had drawn level just after the hour.
The hosts failed to clear a corner and Toney headed home from close range only for VAR to rule him marginally offside.
“Clinical, classy and that might just be @SpursOfficial ticket to @wembleystadium”#EFL | #CarabaoCup
pic.twitter.com/jJwa8LivGx— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) January 5, 2021
Tottenham made the most of their reprieve as they finally doubled their lead seven minutes later.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg won the ball back, Kane fed Tanguy Ndombele who played in Son and the South Korean made no mistake with an emphatic finish.
It was his 16th goal of the season and put one foot back on Wembley Way for Spurs.
They went for the kill as Kane was denied by a fine save by Raya and then Ndombele hit the post from an acute angle.
Brentford’s night ended on a sour note as they were reduced to 10 men in the final 10 minutes as Da Silva walked for a horror challenge on Hojbjerg, who left the pitch with a nasty gash on his shin.
