Chelsea Hit Middlesbrough For Six To Reach League Cup Final

Chelsea stormed into the League Cup final with a 6-1 thrashing of second-tier Middlesbrough to easily overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. The Blues struck four times before half-time as Jonny Howson's own goal, Enzo Fernandez, Axel Disasi and Cole Palmer put Mauricio Pochettino's men on the road to Wembley next month. Palmer and Noni Madueke piled the pain on Middlesbrough in the closing stages on a night that could prove the turning point in Pochettino's early reign in charge.

A much tougher test awaits against either Premier League leaders Liverpool or local rivals Fulham on February 25, but there are promising signs for the Argentine that an expensively-assembled yet still raw squad is beginning to come together.

"Today we were very clinical in front of goal. We missed that in the first leg and we were disappointed. Today we were really good and I think that is the difference," said Pochettino.

The former Tottenham boss now has the chance to win his first trophy in England football and Chelsea's first since the club's owners took over in 2022 and stared splashing out over £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in transfer fees.

Boro are 11th in the Championship and the gulf in class between the sides eventually told over 180 minutes.

The first blow of the night for Michael Carrick's men was a self-inflicted one as veteran midfielder Howson turned into his own net as he tried to prevent Armando Broja from tapping in Raheem Sterling's cross.

After struggling at home in the early months of Pochettino's reign, Chelsea have now won seven consecutive games at Stamford Bridge and the floodgates opened on Middlesbrough as the hosts found their flow.

Disasi was only deputising at right-back due to injuries to