Watch Tottenham vs Chelsea live on Sky Sports Football at 8pm on Tuesday
Tuesday 8 January 2019 21:02, UK
Mauricio Pochettino and Maurizio Sarri face each other in the Carabao Cup semi-final looking to close in on the first major trophy of their managerial careers.
Spurs host Chelsea in the semi-final first leg at Wembley on Tuesday - live on Sky Sports Football - with both managers the only current bosses of top six teams in England yet to win any major honours.
Pochettino's Tottenham projects reaches another important phase in 2019, battling on four fronts for silverware, as Spurs look for their first trophy since 2008. Sarri, meanwhile, is adjusting to life in England having joined Chelsea from Napoli in the summer.
Pochettino led Spurs to runners-up spot in the 2016/17 Premier League, as well as third place in both 2015/16 and 2017/18, and also reached the 2015 League Cup final, where Spurs were beaten by Chelsea at Wembley.
Most of Maurizio Sarri's 29-year managerial career has been spent in the lower reaches of Italian football - however, he twice led Napoli to second in Serie A behind Juventus. Last season, Sarri's Napoli finished on 91 points, the highest ever total in Serie A for a team finishing second.
Sarri also suffered a major semi-final defeat at Napoli, when they lost to Juventus in the 2016/17 Coppa Italia.
The Italian admitted in November he did not know if Chelsea would afford him the four years Pochettino has been given to win a trophy, and both managers' approaches to Tuesday's game will be intriguing after a packed Christmas and New-Year period.
Though Pochettino does have a favourable record in London derbies, he fares worse of all against Chelsea.
In 11 derbies with Chelsea, Spurs have won four under Pochettino, drawing two and losing five.
He has a level record against Arsenal (won three, drawn four, lost three), but has won more than he has lost against West Ham, Crystal Palace, Fulham, QPR, AFC Wimbledon and Millwall.
Tottenham won both meetings with Chelsea in 2018, but further back Chelsea have a strong record against Spurs.
The last time Spurs won three successive games against Chelsea, Bill Nicholson was their manager in the early 1960s.
Chelsea like Wembley, too. They have won four of their last five meetings with Tottenham at Wembley, including the 2015 League Cup final, and FA Cup semi-final victories in 2012 and 2017.
The Blues also beat Tottenham in Spurs' first home game at the national stadium in August 2017.
Pochettino has taken charge of 29 domestic cup ties (34 games overall, including replays and second legs) as Tottenham manager - five of his eight cup defeats have come against current top six teams.
Pochettino has progressed in 20 of his 23 domestic cup ties as Spurs manager against teams outside the current top six.
The 2-0 win at Arsenal in the last round was Tottenham's first cup win over a current top six side since they beat Liverpool 4-2 in the League Cup in Nov 2008.
They had lost their previous 11 ties against the big six, including two League Cup finals and three FA Cup semis.
Since Pochettino took over ahead of the 2014/15 season, Spurs have taken 57 points from 45 PL head-to-heads against the top six - only Arsenal (42 points) have had a worse record in that period.
