Chelsea recovered from a two-goal deficit against Leeds United by scoring six times during a second half in which defending became largely optional.
Xabi Alonso made nine changes for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup third-round tie, including handing 16-year-old Reggie Watson his senior debut.
The decision initially appeared to have produced precisely the sort of evening heavy rotation is designed to avoid.
Tarik Muharemovic headed Leeds ahead after 23 minutes, and Chelsea reached half-time without finding an equaliser. Alonso responded by introducing Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Reece James and Pedro Neto.
Brenden Aaronson then doubled Leeds’ advantage three minutes after the restart, briefly suggesting that changing a substantial proportion of the team had not solved the problem.
It had merely delayed the solution by five minutes.
Palmer converted a disputed penalty in the 53rd minute before equalising two minutes later from Rogers’ pass. Neto completed the turnaround on the hour, and Danny Welbeck made it 4-2 after 65 minutes.
Chelsea had moved from two goals behind to two goals ahead in 17 minutes, during which Leeds were given little opportunity to process any individual part of the collapse.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin reduced the deficit for the visitors, but Valentín Barco restored Chelsea’s two-goal advantage before Welbeck completed the scoring in stoppage time.
Rogers finished with four assists despite playing only the second half, while Palmer scored twice and collected the man-of-the-match award. Welbeck also contributed two goals to a Chelsea performance that became increasingly unreasonable as the evening continued.
Alonso accepted responsibility for his original selection after the match, although his replacements ensured it became evidence of decisive management rather than a lasting problem.
Leeds had required 48 minutes to establish a 2-0 lead. Chelsea used the remaining time to score six goals and advance to the fourth round.
The visitors therefore left Stamford Bridge having scored three times away from home and still lost by three, which is an unusually productive way to be eliminated from the Carabao Cup.
