Tottenham Hotspur make the short trip to face Chelsea in the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final having already moved closer to an appearance in the final.

A first-half penalty from Harry Kane earned Spurs a 1-0 victory at Wembley Stadium earlier this month, and Mauricio Pochettino is effectively just two wins away from lifting the club's first trophy since 2008.

Pochettino's opposite number Maurizio Sarri finds himself in a similar position having never won silverware as the senior man in the dugout, but the Italian has claimed in the media that he is struggling to get the best out of his talented squad.

Here, Sports Mole selects its strongest combined XI from both squads, using only players available for Thursday's match.

Goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has not done a whole lot wrong since signing for Chelsea in the summer, but we cannot ignore that Hugo Lloris has conceded just nine goals from his last 10 appearances so the Frenchman gets the nod between the sticks.

Both teams have more options in defence than in attack, so we have gone with a back three with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen playing either side of Chelsea's David Luiz, who brings a bit more composure to the side than Davinson Sanchez.

Kieran Trippier is preferred to Cesar Azpilicueta due to his qualities going forward and from set pieces, while Ben Davies features ahead of Marcos Alonso who is still out of favour with a section of Chelsea's supporters.

N'Golo Kante and Harry Winks both lack height but they are the natural pairing in the middle, with Kante being used in a more defensive role than he is by Sarri and Winks being provided with the freedom to get forward.

The likely absence of Dele Alli due to injury and Son Heung-min being away on international duty means that we would use Christian Eriksen further forward alongside Eden Hazard, although the latter would be given the licence to take on a free role.

Olivier Giroud has not been receiving many starts under Sarri but we have to prefer the World Cup winner to Fernando Llorente, who appeared slightly off the pace against Fulham at the weekend.