Chelsea still a team in transition, says Conte

Overall, in 24 London derbies in the Premier League, Kane has netted 18 goals which is a better ratio than anyone who’s played in five or more.

Cesc Fabregas, Costa and Eden Hazard were substitutes in last Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final win over Spurs, largely because of the proximity of this fixture.

A selection gamble that could have backfired now looked like a masterstroke as Hazard halted the Tottenham momentum and sent Chelsea into the final.

Southampton team news: Saints have a strong grip on mid-table thanks largely to their solid defense, as well as their middling attack. Tottenham went from a team defined by its flimsy defense to the best defensive team in the league.

“We ran too much after the score and lost maybe a lot of energy in that”, said Lloris. We have to get this out of our heads and carry on — I’m sure we will.

“Sometimes it’s very hard to understand the fixtures, but we have to answer on the pitch”. We can’t control what Chelsea do, if it gives them more momentum, it gives them more momentum. “We just had to dig in defend”. “They are winners. Another thing is to win titles, but they are winners”. Next few days we’ll see. “We know they have an advantage but we need to believe until the end and at least we need to secure second place”.

“The players deserve full credit and (you should) remove that idea because it’s not true”.

“You hope the decision is good”.

Tottenham’s latest failure on the big occasion raised renewed questions about a talented team’s ability to turn potential into prizes.

Similarly, Chelsea had five shots on target during the entirety of Saturday’s FA Cup win over Tottenham and scored four.

“But it is important, I told you, because my relationship with Daniel Levy is so close so far – you know the relationship between chairman and manager can change in a moment!”

Their Premier League season concludes against current bottom club Sunderland on May 21.

“It’s hard to explain”.

“Son played in a position where we tried to be more offensive, tried to stop them in different ways”, Pochettino said. “I have nothing (negative) to say”.

“It’s true the players are disappointed but we will move on”, he said. That makes me proud.

“Then when we are safe we will have a little celebration”. “In the way we play, we try to push but it was not enough”.

Of course, Ake wasn’t alone in having to try and cope with the attentions of Mauricio Pochettino’s industrious attackers, primed to try and win the ball and force mistakes from the front.