Conte rolls the dice and comes out a winner Neil Moxley
THE moment Antonio Conte handed in Chelsea’s team sheet to the referee this semifinal became his big gamble.
Leaving out Diego Costa on the basis of his performances of late was one thing.
Omitting Eden Hazard, his little magician, was another altogether.
But sometimes in life and football management, you spin the roulette wheel and everything comes out red. Or in the Italian’s case, royal blue.
It was a huge call to bench the Belgium forward who has proved so pivotal to all his success this season.
And Wembley sniffed blood. Or at least those wearing white and navy blue did.
Actually, so too did the bookmakers who made Mauricio Pochettino’s men favourites to reach the final. Chelsea’s first slight wobble of the campaign in the Premier League had coincided with a Tottenham surge.
But clearly Conte knew something the rest of us didn’t.
This wasn’t Chelsea’s most convincing performance of the campaign. In fact, for long periods of this riveting tie, Spurs held the upper hand.
Pochettino’s men looked the more likely to score. But when it mattered – with the game locked at 2-2 – Hazard found a way through.
He only had one sight of goal in half-an-hour’s playing time. It was all he needed.
And that’s the difference between these two clubs at present. Could Spurs do without Harry Kane or Dele Alli for an hour and still be in a contest with Chelsea? It’s a difficult one to argue. When Nemanja Matic struck as sweet a drive as you are likely to see six minutes later, thundering a shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar with the game entering its final 10 minutes Spurs had been placed back into their box. And the lid had been slammed shut. Looking at the fixtures to be played in the Premier League, Chelsea should be able to see themselves over the line purely on the strength of victories at Stamford Bridge.
But Conte i mplemented a protectionist policy with his star man to prevent any injury ahead of a final few fixtures that looks like the title should be a shoo-in.
In itself, there was no psychological advantage to be gained from beating Spurs – the pair have already faced each other twice this season.
But as a card-marker, as a measure for the future, this was hugely important.
Pochettino did not hide behind such trivialities as tiredness. Only Kyle Walker was missing through choice. And the way Kieran Trippier has been playing of late meant that his absence was not a huge miss.
But victory for Spurs would more than likely have left them with something to show for their considerable efforts this season.
At times, their football has been superb, although not, for some reason, at Wembley. Not in the Champions League. But this was another matter. Pochettino’s players left the pitch with their reputations intact.
But there is no disguising the fact that this was a chance to turn Chelsea’s shakiness into something that might have yielded a far bigger prize.
For the seeds of doubt that would have been planted in their minds ahead of Tuesday night’s match against Southampton might have made a difference.
It is entirely possible, had this encounter gone in Pochettino’s favour, that Spurs would have been snapping at Conte’s heels until i t was mathematically impossible for them not to win the Premier League. The momentum would have been well and truly behind them.
Footballers thrive on confidence and a Spurs’ triumph would have left that four-point gap between the top two in the Premier League looking that little bit smaller. Psychologically, at least.
But as it is, Chelsea have now seen off the pretenders from north London and have just a few games to see out successfully to turn this into a superb first season for the club and their Italian boss.
Big managers make big calls that turn out right. Conte did that at Wembley.
And now Chelsea are within touching distance of an historic double.
Yes, it really was some gamble.