London, January 23:

Juande Ramos has needed less than three months to turn Tottenham from a candidate for relegation into a cup finalist.

The Spanish coach replaced the popular Martin Jol in October with Spurs near the bottom of the Premier League, and on Tuesday led the team to a 5-1 rout Arsenal and a place in English soccer’s League Cup final.

Jermaine Jenas, Nicklas Bendtner’s own-goal, Robbie Keane and Aaron Lennon put Spurs 4-0 ahead before Emmanuel Adebayor replied for Arsenal. Steed Malbranque then added a goal in injury time to give Spurs a 6-2 aggregate semi-final victory that ended a record 21-match winless streak against its fiercest rival.

The end of Arsenal’s nine-year unbeaten run against Spurs means three-time League Cup winner Tottenham will play either defending champion Chelsea or Everton in the February 24 final at Wembley.

Hampered by injuries, Arsenal made three changes from the first leg, drafting the experienced William Gallas, striker Bendtner and first-team fullback Bacary Sagna to boost a young team that could only draw its home leg 1-1 two weeks ago.

Tottenham took the lead in the third minute through Jenas. The midfielder picked up the ball from Dimitar Berbatov about 40 yards and drove through the Arsenal defense to score.

Jenas curled a right-footed free kick toward Michael Dawson in the 28th, only for Bendtner to head into his own goal.

Keane scored after the break to put his team 3-0 up before Lennonadded another yet another 10 minutes later to widen the gap for Tottenham.

Second half substitute Adebayor lashed a 70th-minute shot into the top corner for a consolation for the Gunners. The game was far from over as Malbranque added fifth for the Spurs from close range after a cross by Jenas in the injury time.