Palmer inspires Chelsea's six-goal Carabao Cup comeback from two down against Leeds

Cole Palmer came off the bench at half-time and scored twice to inspire Chelsea’s extraordinary 6-3 Carabao Cup comeback against Leeds at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, with Xabi Alonso’s side overturning a two-goal deficit to advance to the fourth round.

Chelsea’s second string were outplayed in a flat first half, with backup goalkeeper Mike Penders making two notable saves before a costly error gifted Leeds the opener — Tarik Muharemovic heading in from the resulting corner. Brenden Aaronson added a second early in the second half to put the hosts in serious trouble.

Alonso responded by sending on Palmer, Reece James, Morgan Rogers and Pedro Neto simultaneously at the interval, and the quartet transformed the tie almost immediately. Palmer converted a penalty to ignite a three-goal burst in six minutes, with Neto also finding the net to make it 3-2. Danny Welbeck extended Chelsea’s lead on the hour, and although Dominic Calvert-Lewin briefly revived Leeds’ hopes with a fine finish, Valentin Barco scored his first goal for the club before Welbeck headed in a sixth in stoppage time — his third for Chelsea.

Palmer credited Alonso’s half-time message for the turnaround. “Up the intensity, play a bit more, come more alive because I think the first half was flat,” the England midfielder said. “Everyone agreed in the changing room, so we stepped up. I probably haven’t seen a half like that for a while. Leeds are a good team, tough game, but we needed to pull through and we did.”

The result pushed Chelsea’s goal tally to 16 in five matches under Alonso, and Palmer was keen to highlight the mood in the attacking unit. “You can see I’m enjoying my football,” he said. “Me and Morgz, Joao — all the attacking players, we’re enjoying it. We’ve still got a bit to go. We’re getting results which is the main thing.”

The win came three days after Chelsea’s defeat to Arsenal, with Alonso making nine changes to his starting line-up. The first-half display underlined questions about squad depth, but the second-half response — and the sheer volume of goals — will offer the manager considerable encouragement as Chelsea prepare to host Hull in the Premier League on Saturday.