Chelsea produced another chaotic but thrilling display to beat Leeds 6-3 in the third round of the Carabao Cup, coming from two goals down at Stamford Bridge.
The tie swung on a controversial penalty decision by referee Jarred Gillett, who pointed to the spot after Pep Chavarría went down under slight contact from Daniel James. Cole Palmer converted, and Chelsea then scored four goals in 12 minutes to take control.
Manager Xabi Alonso made nine changes, and his side were shambolic in the first half. The 16-year-old debutant Reggie Watson, son of former Wigan midfielder Ben Watson, was overrun in midfield, while Estêvão Willian and Jamie Gittens struggled in attack. Malo Gusto could barely complete a pass. Alonso made a quadruple change at half-time.
“I take responsibility,” Alonso said. “No player is to blame. It’s the decisions we took. When you don’t have this time to work with them, it’s difficult to compete at this level. I need to take my own blame for the things that happen. I need to be able to help them better. They are not responsible. After you need to react and think what’s better for the team.”
His changes worked. Reece James replaced Watson, Pedro Neto came on for Gusto, and Morgan Rogers and Palmer were introduced. Rogers had a hand in four goals, while Palmer scored twice. Leeds also experimented, with Daniel Farke making eight changes, and they controlled the first half. Sean Longstaff could have doubled their lead. Valentín Barco and Watson were second best in midfield. Leeds were on their way when Barco lost possession three minutes into the second half. Ethan Ampadu charged past Rogers and found Lukas Nmecha, who teed up Brenden Aaronson to make it 2-0.
After Palmer’s penalty with 53 minutes played, he equalised in the 55th minute, and Neto made it 3-2 on the hour. Danny Welbeck added a fourth in the 65th minute, Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulled one back for Leeds, and then Valentín Barco and Welbeck completed the scoring.
Leeds manager
