John Terry's goal on the brink of half time has given Chelsea a slender 1-0 half-time lead over Tottenham Hotspur in this afternoon's League Cup final.

The Blues received a big boost prior to kickoff with the news that Manchester City, their closest challengers in the Premier League title race, had slipped up against Liverpool, and, perhaps buoyed by that, it was they who made the more positive start at Wembley.

However, a Ramires shot aside, which was well blocked by Jan Vertonghen, Chelsea failed to really test Hugo Lloris, who was included in the Spurs starting lineup in this competition for the first time this year.

It was Tottenham who came closest to opening the scoring inside the opening 10 minutes when Christian Eriksen brushed himself down after winning a free kick and saw his attempt come back off the crossbar.

Chelsea were mounting numerous counter-attacks, and this looked to be their best way of finding a way through when Diego Costa and Eden Hazard combined for the latter to curl a shot narrowly wide of goal.

Chances were restricted to a minimum in the opening 45 minutes, however, with Petr Cech's stop from Eriksen's angled shot 10 minutes before the interval proving to be the last of Tottenham's openings.

Just as the half looked to be edging towards a goalless conclusion, Blues skipper Terry fired home unmarked from a few yards out after Mauricio Pochettino's men failed to deal with a free kick whipped into the box.

Gary Cahill could have doubled his side's advantage with seconds to go before the break, but he saw his header kept out by Lloris.