PREMIER League leader Chelsea beat second-tier Derby County 3-1 to reach the League Cup semifinals Tuesday, but at the cost of injuries to Kurt Zouma and Didier Drogba.

    Eden Hazard and Filipe Luis, with his first goal for the club, put Chelsea in control on a rain-soaked night at the iPro Stadium, before Craig Bryson replied for Derby in the 71st minute.

    But the hosts’ hopes of a comeback were extinguished when center-back Jake Buxton was sent off for impeding substitute Loic Remy, and Andre Schuerrle made the game safe with eight minutes to play.

    “Derby is a Championship side, but not a typical one. They have more quality than that and they play good football with fantastic support,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho told Sky Sports.

    “We played in a very professional way and controlled the game for most of the time. They fought to the end and for a few minutes after they scored they were able to put us in trouble.”

    Remy was only on the pitch because veteran striker Drogba had been forced off by an ankle injury earlier in the second half.

    French center-back Zouma, meanwhile, was stretchered off in first-half injury time after colliding heavily with his own goalkeeper, Petr Cech. Branislav Ivanovic replaced him.

    Mourinho won the League Cup twice in his first stint as Chelsea manager and he named a strong side against Championship high-flier Derby, with Hazard, John Terry, Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas all in the team.

    The visitors made the breakthrough in the 23rd minute after Hazard blocked an attempted pass from Derby captain Richard Keogh on the edge of the hosts’ penalty area.

    Fabregas steered the ball back into Hazard’s path and the Belgian winger drifted infield before drilling a low shot into the bottom-left corner.

    After Cech had saved well from Derby midfielder Will Hughes, Luis doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 56th minute by arcing a fine free-kick over the wall and into the net.

    There was a shock in the evening’s other quarterfinal as misfiring Premier League side Southampton crashed out after losing 1-0 to third-tier Sheffield United at a raucous Bramall Lane.(SD-Agencies)