League Cup: Jansson the villain as Kepa's heroics sees Chelsea through to semis

Chelsea are through to the semifinals of the League Cup after a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium provided some succour to a beleaguered Blues side. It was a good performance all-round as Thomas Tuchel's side kept another clean sheet, blooded some young stars and gave a run out to some injured ones.

Tuchel fielded three Academy debutants on the night, as occasioned by the impact of the coronavirus and a congested fixture list ahead, much to the consternation of the Blues' fans. Harvey Vale and Jude Soonsup-Bell started in a three-man attack alongside Ross Barkley while Xavier Simons replaced Reece James at right wing-back.

Vale and Soonsup-Bell linked up well with Barkley through out the first half, buzzing and feeding passes to keep the Brentford defence on their toes. At the back, another recent Academy breakthrough star in Trevoh Chalobah played beyond his years as he marshalled a three-man defence consisting of Malang Sarr and veteran Cesar Azpilicueta.

For most of Chelsea's positive attacking play in the first-half, Tuchel had Kepa Arrizabalaga to thank for going into the break level as the Spanish goalkeeper pulled off three great saves in the first period. 

First a fine reaction save from a Yoane Wissa header before an even more beautiful stop to deny Mathias Jensen from finding the back of the net with another header. The pick of the bunch was the Chelsea No. 2 making himself as big as possible to deny an Henry Rico effort with his leg as the Brentford forward bore down on goal.

Tuchel had the luxury of bringing on the likes of Christian Pulisic, Jorginho, Mason Mount, Reece James and Ngolo Kante off the bench in the second half as Chelsea sought to book their place in the January semifinal fixtures. It was the experienced stars that delivered the goods as the Blues upped the ante in search of a goal.

Kante's never-say-never attitude helped him release James on the right side in the 80th minute with the England international's whipped cross turned into the Brentford goal by Pontus Jansson for an own goal. 

Five minutes later, Pulisic was brought down in the penalty box by Brentford goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez, and Jorginho stepped up to convert his seventh Chelsea penalty for the season to double the Blues' lead. 

That was how it ended as Chelsea ensured passage to the semifinals of the League Cup, joining Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs in the last four. The semifinal fixtures will be played between January 3 and January 10 2022 with Chelsea billed to face Tottenham as Liverpool tackle Arsenal.