Tottenham Hotspur beats Brentford, reaches League Cup Final

Tottenham – Brentford: Moussa Sissoko scored in the first half and Heung-min Son after the break as Tottenham Hotspur claimed a spot in the League Cup Final with a 2-0 defeat of Championship side Brentford in a London derby on Tuesday in North London.

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Sergio Reguilon and Tanguy Ndombele set up Spurs’ goals, while a game Brentford had an equalizer pulled off the board by VAR shortly before Tottenham’s second marker.

Joshua Dasilva was sent off late for Brentford following cleats to the shin of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, seeing a card the same color the Spurs’ man’s blood and putting the Bees’ comeback hopes to bed.

Three things we learned from Tottenham Hotspur – Brentford

1. Mourinho moves closer to Spurs silverware: Whether Jose Mourinho leads Spurs against his former club Manchester United or longtime tactical foe Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, the Portuguese has Tottenham one win away from long-sought silverware. For so long, we heard that all Mauricio Pochettino was lacking at Spurs was a trophy. Mourinho’s reputation is a trophy collector, having led Porto to six, Chelsea to eight, Inter Milan to five, Real Madrid to three, and Manchester United to three. Spurs won their last significant trophy, a fourth League Cup, in the 2007-08 season. Will they land No. 5 come April at Wembley?

2. Tanguy time has (finally) arrived: The 24-year-old Ndombele now has three goals and three assists in 21 appearances this season. Sixteen of those are starts, and Ndombele has as many goal contributions over 1,285 minutes this season as he did in 1,446 minutes last season.

It truly feels like the Ndombele-Mourinho relationship is set right, even going back as far as their ill-advised park training session at the start of the pandemic.

SON HEUNG-MIN.

He pushes Tottenham one step closer to the Carabao Cup final 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9HN5ZtnWIw

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 5, 2021

3. Brentford would be a welcome addition to the Premier League: Losers of a West London derby Championship Playoff Final at Wembley last season, Brentford sold Said Benraham and Ollie Watkins but play a very fun style of football. Led by Sergi Canos, Ivan Toney, and Josh Dasilva — the latter of whom took an unfortunate and unlucky red card for bloodying the shin of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the 84th minute — the Bees play an attractive game. They beat Premier League sides Fulham, West Brom, Newcastle, and Southampton to reach the semifinal and sit six points back of the top of the Championship table. Maybe.

Man of the Match: Son

Reguilon was very good and Ndombele was everywhere but Son had the goal, three key passes, and barely put the ball in the wrong spot.

Tottenham Hotspur – Brentford recap

Brentford allowed Spurs way too much time on the ball on the opening goal, Sergio Reguilon allowed to sweep a cross to a stunningly uncovered Sissoko for 1-0 after 12 minutes.

Spurs were, of course, superior for most of the half but Mbeumo continued his impressive Brentford playmaking on a 38th-minute sequence that inspired interventions from Eric Dier and Heung-min Son.

Lucas Moura came close to making it 2-0 minutes later but Bees keeper David Raya pawed the looping goalward effort away from the frame.

Brentford equalized after the break but VAR decided that Ivan Toney was offside by centimeters — and that might be generous — when he nodded the ball home from in-tight.

Serge Aurier needed treatment in the 66th minute when his knee appeared to buckle while challenging for the ball.

Spurs got their second when the Harry Kane and Son goal-producing machine added an extra cog in Tanguy Ndombele, who took a pass from the former and set up the latter for a blasted finish beyond the reach of Raya.

Follow @NicholasMendola