Chelsea 6 (Palmer 53 pen, 55, Neto 60, Welbeck 65, 90+4)​

Leeds U 3 (Muharemovic 23, Aaronson 48, Calvert-Lewin 75)

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9th September 2026. Carabao Cup 3rd Round.

35,696.

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Oh dear! Pick the bones out of that one, if you will! As the boss said afterwards, “It was a crazy game!”

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Let's cover the positives first! For 50 minutes, a second-string Leeds bossed a second-string Chelsea and got themselves a 2 – 0 lead that did not flatter us at all. We grabbed the lead with a Muharemovic back-post header similar to the one Vuskovic undid us with on Saturday at Brighton – rising above everyone else to thump a well-placed header just under the crossbar with the Chelsea keeper all at sea. We had other chances – notably when Sean Longstaff had the goal to aim at from the edge of the box but blazed wastefully over. Penders, the Chelsea stopper, did well too, tipping over another Tarik header and punching away a corner. Chelsea hardly troubled us.

We all knew what was coming, though, at the break, as Chelsea realised they were being outclassed and so turned to their regular starters to try to grab back the momentum. The sight of Palmer, Rogers, Neto and Reece James coming on suddenly made our bench look very second best!

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For a few minutes though, Leeds continued on their merry way, and we doubled the lead with a superb goal just three minutes into the new half. A brilliant piece of play by Ethan Ampadu out on the Leeds right saw him win the ball and then skate around the back of the home defence to the byline. He stroked the ball low across the face of the goal, where Lukas Nmecha cleverly got ahead of his marker to flick the ball behind him and into the path of Brenden Aaronson, following the play. Brenden struck the ball perfectly into the left corner of the net past the keeper and defender. It was a textbook move.

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We probably shouldn’t have poked the bear like that, and the goal seemed to be the spur for Chelsea to finally get their act together, and we then saw 12 minutes of class from them, which, together with some shambolic defending from Leeds, saw a two-goal lead switch from us to them.

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A soft penalty gave Palmer his first from the spot – Dan James’ boot making minimal contact with that of Chavarria and the Chelsea man going down like he was shot. It was not the first time in the evening we’d seen a Blue shirt rolling around on the ground trying to con the ref, and it wouldn’t be the last – Estevao spent the whole first half doing it. Palmer predictably put the spot kick away.

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Seconds later it was 2-2 as a clever lay-off put the ball on Palmer’s left foot and he unerringly curled the ball around a Leeds defender, and in off the post with Zetterer unsighted but looking terribly slow to react. I have to say Zetterer didn’t look very alert all night.

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Chelsea suddenly looked full of pace and urgency, while Leeds looked full of panic as passes started to go astray and we looked a yard slower than the hosts. Leeds lost possession again in midfield; Palmer threaded the ball through the middle, Rogers was quicker and stronger than Bard to stretch and poke the ball to the unmarked Neto, and he followed Palmer’s example by curling the ball low inside that left post again, with Zetterer again no more than a bystander.

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Then Danny Welbeck caused havoc as he was allowed to turn in the box and fire straight through the hapless Zetterer. 2-0 had rapidly become 4-2.

Credit to Leeds, though, with four substitutes sent into the action (they were getting ready at 3-2), Leeds found their mojo again with a fine move down the left; Bard stretched to push the ball to the newly arrived Okafor and Noah sent a low ball across for DCL to clinically finish into the corner; the comeback looked on, and maybe a sign for the future, DCL looked sharper than he’s done recently.

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Sadly, it was not to be, though, and on 80 minutes it was that man, Morgan Rogers, again, beating Gabi Gudmundsson, who ended up firing across goal. Zetterer could only parry the ball as far as Barco, and he smashed the ball emphatically and accurately just inside that left post again, with Zetterer still getting to his feet again.

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Still, Leeds wouldn’t give up the ghost, and next it was Gabi slaloming through umpteen blue shirts to set up first Anton Stach, who tamely shot and saw that one blocked, and then Ao Tanaka followed up with a hopeful smash that cannoned into the defender.

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But Chelsea finished the game with another stroke of luck when a hopeless mishit shot from Barco just landed perfectly on the head of Welbeck, who showed he was alert as he deftly redirected it the other way to beat Zetterer again. Game, set, and match to the Blues.

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It was just one of those games; nine times out of ten Dan James would have got away with that tackle; the referee admitted he should have awarded Leeds a penalty for a foul challenge on Noah Okafor too, but, Sod’s Law, he missed that one at the time. And Sean Longstaff should have buried his first-half chance. It was fine margins in the end, but the overriding assessment has to be that Chelsea’s regular XI is far, far stronger than ours and not surprising when you look at how much that squad cost! We can argue that we could have defended better, should have defended better, and I could argue James Trafford might have been more effective in goal than Zetterer, but at the end of the day, quality told.

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We have to put this one behind us, come out fighting against Newcastle next Monday and get back to our best XI, although I’m still not completely sure what that is. Do you?

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