Bournemouth 2-1

Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 Bournemouth 1: Late Alvaro Morata strike earns semi-final spot - but it was a 17 year-old who stole the show

Matt Law

Chelsea’s record signing Alvaro Morata stepped off the substitutes’ bench to clinch a Carabao Cup semi-final tie against Arsenal, but it was a 17-year-old they have not even paid for who stole the show.
While Chelsea’s reserves largely disappointed, with Michy Batshuayi again failing to grasp his chance and Willian frustrating despite scoring the opening goal, Ethan Ampadu shone against Bournemouth.

Making only his second senior start for Chelsea and his first in the centre of defence, Ampadu put in an assured performance that defied his inexperience. It looked worrying for Ampadu, when he was booked inside 90 seconds for a late challenge on Jermain Defoe that eventually forced the striker off with suspected ankle ligament damage.
But he quickly regained his composure and did not put a foot wrong again, which will have no doubt been noted by old club Exeter City.

Chelsea have not been able to settle on a compensation fee with Exeter for Ampadu, who turned down a contract with the Grecians to sign for the Premier League champions in the summer. The stand-off is expected to be settled by a tribunal and, on this evidence, Exeter’s valuation of the youngster will have shot up even further.
“After one minute and 20 seconds, you decide to book a player who is 17-years-old – I think he played the whole game with this problem and it’s not simple for a defender to play after a yellow card in the second minute,” said Antonio Conte, the Chelsea head coach. “You have to play 93 minutes with this danger. But he showed great maturity and personality.

“I said in the past that this player, despite his young age, has shown great maturity. I don’t like to make gifts for someone. If they deserve it, I’m ready to play with very young players. Why not?
“Ampadu deserved to play this game and against Everton and against Huddersfield [as a substitute] in the league. Now he has to stay calm. Maybe next game, he’ll go to play for the youth league. I don’t know. But this player is very humble. He could have a great future, but he has to continue in this way, to improve and to work.”

Morata’s winning goal, which came less than a minute after Dan Gosling had appeared to send the tie into extra-time with a 90th-minute equaliser, came at a price.
The Spaniard’s celebrations earned him a yellow card and he will now serve a one-match suspension and miss Saturday’s Premier League trip to Everton. “I must be honest, I didn’t see this yellow card,” said Conte. “He’s a big loss for us, especially because we have to play a tough game against Everton. It’s a pity. But we have to accept it. Many players were booked.”

Other than Morata, Eden Hazard and Tiemoue Bakayoko were called on from the bench, as Conte was annoyed with the way Chelsea started the second period having taken a 13th-minute lead.
Batshuayi passed to Kenedy, who back-heeled the ball into the path of Cesc Fabregas. The midfielder drove into the penalty area before finding Willian, who easily beat goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

Willian almost went from hero to villain, as he inexplicably let in substitute Jordan Ibe, who should have at least tested Chelsea’s reserve keeper Willy Caballero.
Having thought he had been fouled, Willian stopped playing to appeal for a free-kick. Referee Lee Mason ignored the Brazilian and Ibe raced into the area, but fired the ball into the side-netting.
Bournemouth came out from the break reinvigorated and Ampadu had to be alert to divert a shot from Lys Mousset over the bar. Conte was concerned enough that he felt the need to call for Hazard and Bakayoko, who took over from Willian and Pedro.

The changes did not knock Bournemouth out of their stride, however, and Gosling was the next visiting player to worry the Chelsea defence, but his shot was too high.

It was evident that Conte did not want extra time, as he sent on the last of his big guns – Morata – with 17 minutes remaining. But there were more warnings for the hosts, as Ibe flashed a low shot just wide and Caballero got down well to stop substitute Callum Wilson’s cross reaching Gosling.
Gosling finally got the better of Caballero with a curling shot in the 90th-minute, only to see Chelsea race straight up the other end and win the tie through Morata.

“It feels heartbreaking, to be honest,” said Eddie Howe, the Bournemouth manager. “The players gave everything to get back into that game. I was hoping it would go into extra-time and we’d have a go at winning it. It was bitterly disappointing what happened in those last few moments.
“It’s too painful to watch the goal again.”

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Mail:

Chelsea 2-1 Bournemouth: Alvaro Morata scores last-ditch winner moments after Dan Gosling equaliser to send Antonio Conte's side into Carabao Cup semi-finals to face London rivals Arsenal

By Adam Crafton for the Daily Mail

As Alvaro Morata's finish trickled into the Bournemouth goal, Antonio Conte let out one of those visceral outpourings of energy.
A minute before, the picture could hardly have been more different.
Leading through an early Willian goal, Chelsea simply switched off after the restart. Chelsea were rattled and Bournemouth's Dan Gosling eventually scored a deserved equaliser just as the game edged into injury time.

Conte had seen it coming. Heaven knows he had tried everything from the Chelsea technical area. He tried cajoling his players. Then he introduced his big-hitters. Yet the more frantic Conte became, the more his side retreated into their shell.
Bournemouth played with greater urgency, forcing a succession of corners. Only the most tenacious of blocks from the outstanding 17-year-old Ethan Ampadu denied Guy Mousset an equaliser.

The prospect of extra-time began to haunt Conte's mind. So out came three of Conte's aces in Tiemoue Bakayoko, Eden Hazard and Morata. Yet Chelsea continued to stumble around. Gary Cahill did so quite literally, falling flat on his face to concede a corner.
But the visitors just kept coming. Gosling fired over. Substitute Jordan Ibe flashed a low shot inches wide of Chelsea's goal.

When Gosling's sweet curling strike nestled into the goal shortly before the fourth official raised his board for injury-time, it was the least Eddie Howe's side merited.
Yet in Hazard and Morata, Conte possesses two of the Premier League's most gifted footballers and straight from the kick-off, the pair took matters into their own hands.
The duo dovetailed beautifully, as Hazard's back-flick freed the Spaniard to seal a dramatic late victory. Morata was booked for his enthusiastic celebrations, ruling him out the weekend visit to Everton.

'It was heart-breaking,' Howe said. Yet for Conte, victory was significant. Certainly, his side's progress in this competition means more than he might have envisaged early in the season.
Conte might have regarded the Carabao Cup as a token reward but amid the broader outlook of Manchester City's excellence and a Champions League duel against Barcelona, a semi-final draw against Arsenal now takes on renewed significance.
Conte's sense of purpose was clear from the team-sheet. The Italian may have made eight changes from the weekend victory over Southampton but his starting XI still came in at a combined value of £218.7m, including the talents of Cesc Fabregas, Willian and Pedro. Hazard and Morata waited on the bench.

So this was not a scratch Chelsea side. There were places on the bench for two English World Cup winners, in the Under 20 winner Jake Clarke-Salter and Under 17 Callum Hudson-Odoi but neither entered the fray.
Conte was true to his pre-match word, offering another high-level starting opportunity to young Ampadu. He started the previous round against Everton in central midfield and here the Welsh international played at the heart of the Chelsea defence. Sporting his frizzy dreadlocks and lean build, he is a David Luiz doppelganger.

Ampadu's former Exeter manager Paul Tisdale said that he plays with the brain of a 35-year-old yet just like Luiz, there are signs of over-exuberance. The ferocity of Ampadu's slash at Jermain Defoe's ankles inside the opening 80 seconds spoke volumes for a young talent's anxiety to impress.
Referee Lee Mason took his name yet Ampadu responded so positively to his early set-back, carrying the ball with confidence and defending with urgency and composure.
'It is not simple to play 90 minutes with a yellow card,' Conte said. 'Ampadu showed great maturity and personality. He is very humble and he could have a great future.'

Defoe was forced off by the lunge with suspected ankle ligament damage and that loss represented the latest blow for Howe in a season that simply refuses to take off.
After suffering two defeats by Manchester United and Liverpool in the past eight days and with the trauma of a visit to Manchester City to endure this weekend, the injury to Defoe, in addition to Harry Artur, who exited with a calf injury, provide further headaches.

Bournemouth are seven matches without a victory and a pivotal run of fixtures after Christmas will determine whether a drama becomes a crisis for Howe.
Still, Bournemouth made the more vibrant start to the game and Gosling might have been more composed when a shooting opportunity presented itself early on. Chelsea's attacking qualities soon surfaced.

It was a quite magnificent opening goal. An impudent back-heel from the Brazilian Kenedy released Cesc Fabregas breaking from midfield and as the crowd rose up, Fabregas was the coolest man in the stadium, glancing up and teeing up Willian to score.
For a fleeting while, we wondered whether Chelsea may inflict serious damage to Bournemouth's fragile confidence, as Michy Batshuayi spurned one good chance and Davide Zappacosta fired across goal. Yet the second-half was a different story and ultimately, Chelsea were grateful to come away with any win at all.

Chelsea: Caballero 6; Rudiger 6, Ampadu 7, Cahill 6.5; Zappacosta 6, Drinkwater 6, Fabregas 7, Kenedy 7; Pedro 6 (Bakayoko 61, 6), Willian 7 (Hazard 61, 6.5); Batshuayi 5 (Morata 73, 7)
Subs not used: Clarke-Salter, Eduardo, Sterling, Hudson-Odoi
Goalscorers: Willian 13, Morata 90+1
Booked: Ampadu, Fabregas, Zappacosta, Morata
Manager: Antonio Conte 6.5

Bournemouth: Boruc 6; A. Smith 6, S Cook 6, Francis 6, Simpson 6.5, Fraser 6.5; Gosling 6, Artur 6.5 (L Cook 73, 6), Surman 6; Mousset 5.5 (Wilson 71, 6), Defoe 5.5 (Ibe 17, 6)
Subs not used: Ake, Pugh, Ramsdale, Hyndman
Goalscorers: Gosling 90
Booked: Simpson, A Smith, Francis, Gosling
Manager: Eddie Howe 6

Referee: Lee Mason 6.5