Cole Palmer’s miss of the season tells same old story for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea had come to play, then, and they had also come to scrap. Leeds always offer a physical challenge and Estêvão Willian, Chelsea’s teenage winger, showed he was not intimidated by the bigger lads in white. At the end of the first half, Estêvão shoved Leeds centre-back Joe Rodon into the advertising boards.

It felt, in these moments, like one of Chelsea’s best performances of the season. Especially when Palmer struck the second from the penalty spot, after João Pedro was foolishly shoved to the ground by Leeds defender Jaka Bijol.

Game over? The home crowd probably felt so. Perhaps the home players did too. But then the game switched on one mistake by Caicedo, who tripped Jayden Bogle inside the area. Nmecha converted and suddenly the mood changed. Leeds grew strong.

Within six minutes, they had their equaliser. A horrible goal to concede, and a delightfully easy one for Okafor to score. A collection of Chelsea players could not clear the ball, with two of them instead getting in their own way. At the end of it all, Okafor simply rolled into the net.

Chelsea complained that Bogle had handled in the build-up, and they might have had a point, but the bigger issue for them was their loss of control in the game. It was remarkable how quickly the night had turned, with Chelsea cruising and then suddenly panicking.