Mauricio Pochettino never managed to win a trophy at and that’s something he must rectify now he is in charge at .
He went close to lifting silverware during five years at Spurs, reaching the final in Madrid, where his side were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool and they were defeated by the same score by Chelsea in the League Cup final at in 2015, which was Pochettino’s first season in charge at White Hart Lane.
The big prize remained tantalisingly out of reach though and the pressure is on the Argentinian to shed his image as a nearly man now he has hold of the reins at Stamford Bridge, especially as the Blues are not in Europe this year.
Pochettino has a number of players receiving treatment for injuries at present, but mean there’s no lack of depth to his squad.
A good Carabao Cup draw against close neighbours Wimbledon also gives him the ideal chance to look at some of the fringe players in his plans while still making progress in the competition.
The Dons have started their League Two campaign with two wins and three draws to put them among the early frontrunners in the table and they took the scalp of Championship club Coventry in the first round.
It means their fans will be in a joyous mood as they make the 13-minute journey on London Underground’s District Line from Wimbledon to Fulham Broadway on Wednesday and the optimistic will fancy their chances of an upset.
It won’t happen, though, even if Poch makes wholesale changes for the second-round tie.
Chelsea will be keen to build on their first win of the season which came via at the Bridge on Friday and should cruise home against the underdogs.
The Blues opened the season with an entertaining 1-1 draw at home to Liverpool and – just like Brighton on Saturday – were left scratching their heads and wondering how they had so much possession against early surprise package West Ham but still managed to lose 3-1.
Chelsea can notch a second straight 3-0 victory in front of their own fans at 11/2 with Sky Bet, while Nicolas Jackson is 19/5 to open the scoring with Unibet if he starts.
The King’s Road club are 11/1 with Betfair and Paddy Power to end Pochettino’s search for that elusive first trophy in English football but there are better options elsewhere.
• Nottingham Forest and Blackburn combine for our Wednesday night League Cup double.
• Stefanos Tsitsipas doesn’t have a very good record at the US Open having never progressed beyond the third round at Flushing Meadows. He can reach that stage of the competition for a third time however by following his 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 first- round victory over Milos Raonic with another straight-sets success against Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker at 6/5 with Bet Victor.
