Thomas Tuchel felt his Chelsea side "played with fire" in a 1-0 win at Tottenham and warned they must raise their standards despite reaching the EFL Cup final.
Antonio Rudiger scored the only goal of the second leg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday as the European champions secured a 3-0 aggregate win over their London rivals.
It was a frustrating night for Spurs, who were awarded a penalty in each half by Andre Marriner, but the decisions were both correctly overturned.
Marriner pointed the spot in the first half for a foul by Rudiger on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but the VAR informed the referee that contact was made outside the box.
The referee then realised he got it wrong again when he took a look on the pitchside monitor after ruling that Lucas Moura had been upended by Kepa Arrizabalaga, who clearly got the ball when he came out to deny the Spurs forward.
Harry Kane then had a goal disallowed for offside following another VAR check and Chelsea saw out another victory to set up a final against Arsenal or Liverpool on February 27.
Yet Blues boss Tuchel was not impressed with the way his side went about booking another trip to Wembley.
The German told Sky Sports: "I think we started okay, started good. We created big chances, we were in the lead, but we played with fire.
"We allowed chances from easy and sloppy mistakes and we were lucky, almost gave a penalty away for absolutely no reason, from a bit of over-confidence.
"We started again very well in the second half and the same happened for the last 20-25 minutes. There was a mixture of lack of focus, over-confidence, I don't know. Suddenly we need luck to not have another penalty [awarded against them], to have another VAR decision with a little offside.
"We can play much better, we need to play much better if we want to really deserve results like this because we did play well over long phases of the match, but we need to do better."
Asked if he was unhappy with the performance, he replied: "Yes, we need to have the standards because that is why we work for Chelsea and we play for Chelsea and nothing else matters.
"It's about our standards and not about getting a result somehow. We can do much better, we can close spaces much better, we can do better defending individually, we can control the match better with less mistakes.
"In any part of the match we can do better and we have to do better."
Brentford 3-1 Southampton: Bees begin life after Toney with comfortable win
Brentford began life without Ivan Toney with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Southampton.
Bryan Mbeumo’s brace and a Yoane Wissa goal proved to be the difference between the two sides and condemned the Saints to their third straight loss since promotion back to the Premier League.
With departed striker Toney watching in the stands after his move to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, the hosts proved too strong for Russell Martin’s men. They created the superior chances and capitalised on an error-strewn performance from Southampton’s backline.
Mbeumo opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before doubling the lead halfway through the second period and Wissa then got on the scoresheet moments later to continue Brentford’s strong start to the campaign. Yukinari Sugawara bagged a consolation in injury time for the Saints.
Brentford sit in fifth place ahead of the first international break, while Southampton are second-bottom of the league table with zero points.
Data debrief: Wissa continues to prove effective at home
Wissa now has five goals and two assists in his last seven matches at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford have recorded consecutive home league wins for the first time since last November, and the first time in their opening home games since August 2018.
Brentford 3-1 Southampton: Bees begin life without Toney with comfortable win
Brentford began life without Ivan Toney with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Southampton.
Bryan Mbeumo’s brace and a Yoane Wissa goal proved to be the difference between the two sides and condemned the Saints to their third straight loss since promotion back to the Premier League.
With departed striker Toney watching in the stands after his move to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, the hosts proved too strong for Russell Martin’s men. They created the superior chances and capitalised on an error-strewn performance from Southampton’s backline.
Mbeumo opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before doubling the lead halfway through the second period and Wissa then got on the scoresheet moments later to continue Brentford’s strong start to the campaign. Yukinari Sugawara bagged a consolation in injury time for the Saints.
Brentford sit in fifth place ahead of the first international break, while Southampton are second-bottom of the league table with zero points.
Data debrief: Wissa continues to prove effective at home
Wissa now has five goals and two assists in his last seven matches at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford have recorded consecutive home league wins for the first time since last November, and the first time in their opening home games since August 2018.
Newcastle dream not over, insists Howe despite transfer disappointment
Eddie Howe insists Newcastle United’s dream of regular success may take a little longer than anticipated after a disappointing transfer window.
After the Magpies’ Saudi-backed takeover in 2021, Amanda Staveley claimed they could win a first Premier League title within 10 years of that.
But Newcastle’s failed pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi has shown where they are in the market, welcoming just five new faces at St James’ Park and keeping much of the squad that missed out on European football last year.
And ahead of this weekend’s meeting with Tottenham Hotspur, Howe urged supporters to trust the process and back the team when they take to the pitch on Sunday.
"I don't think the dream dies, necessarily, but I think it takes a lot longer,” Howe said.
"We've got to build our revenue streams, that is the biggest thing. We've got to bring more money into the football club, however we do that - through player sales, through sponsorship, through loads of various things.
"That's the big thing that we need to focus on now for the next, probably, 10 years.
"Whether I'm lucky enough to see any of that, who knows? But the dream is not over, it's just going to take a lot, lot longer."
Tottenham, meanwhile, will be looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the season after cruising to a 4-0 win over Everton in their first home game of the campaign.
Ange Postecoglou is aiming to improve on Spurs’ fifth-placed finish last term that secured them Europa League football.
Spurs discovered their opponents in the new format of the competition on Friday, with a reunion with Jose Mourinho on the cards, while Postecoglou returns north of the border to face old foes Rangers.
And the Spurs boss believes the new format will allow his players to build a rhythm throughout the Premier League campaign due to the competitive nature of the tournament this year.
"It allows us to get into a rhythm of having two games a week until January pretty much. I much prefer having a programme now as opposed to last year.
“The new format is interesting, there will be less 'dead rubbers' in European football which can't be a bad thing.
"It's a tough game, they have got some outstanding players who are well coached. It's going to be a great challenge for us."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Newcastle – Alexander Isak
Alexander Isak has enjoyed Spurs’ visits to St James’ Park recently, scoring twice in both of his two Premier League home games against Tottenham.
Only two players have scored two or more goals in three consecutive home appearances against a club in the competition – Alan Shearer vs Everton (1992 to 1994) and Chris Sutton vs Liverpool (1994 to 1996).
Tottenham – James Maddison
James Maddison has provided an assist in four of his last five Premier League games, including both matches so far this season for Postecoglou’s side.
No Spurs player has ever assisted a goal in each of their first three games in a single campaign before.
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Despite Opta’s data-led simulations predicting a close encounter in the North East, it has been Newcastle who have had the better of the results in recent years.
The Magpies have won three of their last four Premier League meetings with Spurs (L1), as many as in their previous 13 (D2 L8). Three of their last five league victories against Spurs have been by at least a four-goal margin.
Newcastle have also scored at least once in each of their last 20 Premier League home games, scoring with their only attempt on target in their last such match against Southampton. Only once have they had a longer scoring streak at St James’ Park in the competition, going 24 games between January 1995 and February 1996.
Tottenham have lost their last two Premier League away games against Newcastle by an aggregate score of 10-1. They’d only lost two of their previous 11 such visits to St James’ Park (W6 D3).
But having won four of their first six Premier League away games last season (D2), Spurs have now won just three of their last 14 on the road (D5 L6).
But expect goals on Sunday. Newcastle v Tottenham is the most played fixture in Premier League history to never finish 0-0 (58 games). Only Liverpool v Tottenham (191) and Arsenal v Liverpool (190) have seen more goals than this in the competition (186), while there have been 34 goals in the last seven meetings alone (4.9 per game).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Newcastle – 38.7%
Draw – 23.6%
Tottenham – 37.7%
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