Chelsea booked their spot in the Carabao Cup final as they eased past Tottenham 3-0 on aggregate.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg of their semi-final, Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger headed the only goal of the game early in the first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to seal their passage to Wembley.

They will face Arsenal or Liverpool in the final, with their delayed second leg getting under way on Thursday night, live on Sky Sports Football.

For Tottenham, it is one more opportunity gone this season to end their 14-year trophy drought since they won this competition in 2008. They are likely now left with just the FA Cup.

Chelsea cruise past Spurs to set up Wembley date

It was the perfect start for Chelsea. It took a little longer than it did to open the scoring in the first leg, but after 18 minutes they were in front on the night as Rudiger arrived at the right time to head home Mason Mount's corner.

Spurs were left with an uphill battle, and they briefly thought they might have a way back into the game as Antonio Rudiger brought down Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on 40 minutes and referee Andre Marriner pointed to the spot. But a VAR check correctly concluded the foul took place outside the box, and the home side made nothing of the resulting free-kick.

Just before the hour mark, VAR came to Marriner's rescue again, as he pointed to the spot for another Spurs penalty, thinking that Kepa Arrizabalaga had felled Lucas Moura, but it was clear that the Chelsea goalkeeper had cleanly taken the ball.

After 64 minutes, Spurs finally thought they had found a way back into the tie as Moura fed Kane and he found the back of the net, but the England captain was correctly adjudged by VAR to be offside.

Antonio Conte introduced Ryan Sessegnon and then Bryan Gil, but it wasn't to be for Spurs. The long wait goes on.

Man of the match: Antonio Rudiger

One sloppy moment aside for the foul on Hojbjerg that appeared briefly to have given Spurs a penalty, it was another impressive display from Rudiger. He looks as comfortable in the back four as he did in a back three. Chelsea will want to keep him at Stamford Bridge for as long as they can.

Carabao Cup schedule

Liverpool and Arsenal begin their delayed Carabao Cup semi-final tie live on Sky Sports Football on Thursday night. Coverage gets under way at 7pm, with kick-off at 7.45pm. The second leg is seven days later on Thursday, January 20.

Chelsea face Liverpool or Arsenal at Wembley in the final on Sunday, February 27

What's next for Tottenham and Chelsea?

Both sides return to Premier League action at the weekend. Chelsea head to Manchester City on Saturday for a 12.30pm kick-off. Tottenham host Arsenal in the north London derby on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 4pm. Kick-off 4.30pm.

Teams

Tottenham Hotspur Gollini, Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies, Emerson Royal, Winks (Skipp 81), Hojbjerg, Doherty (Sessegnon 65), Lo Celso (Gil 71), Kane (c), Moura
Subs Not Used Lloris, Paskotsi, Rodon, White, Alli, Scarlett
Booked
Goals

Chelsea Kepa, Christensen (Silva 66), Sarr, Rudiger, Azpilicueta (c), Jorginho (Loftus-Cheek 82), Kovacic (Kante 77), Hudson-Odoi, Mount (Ziyech 66) , Lukaku, Werner (Alonso 66)
Subs Not Used Bettinelli, Saul, Havertz, Pulisic
Booked
Goals Rudiger 18

Attendance 45,603

Referee Andre Marriner

VAR Mike Dean