Chelsea came from two goals behind to beat Leeds United 6-3 in the League Cup on Wednesday night, with their attacking reinforcements completely flipping the game in just 12 minutes.
The Blues have been touted as one of the main challengers to Arsenal's Premier League crown this season. While their victory over Leeds was in the League Cup, the manner in which they stunned a fellow top-flight side should strike fear into all of their opponents.
Going into the half-time break 1-0 down, Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso introduced Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Pedro Neto and Reece James from the bench. That he can call upon those to replace the likes of Estevao and Jamie Gittens is a great luxury.
Things got worse before they got better, with Leeds doubling their lead through Brenden Aaronson in the 48th minute.
Then Palmer and Rogers turned it on. The former rifled home a penalty in the 53rd minute, setting the Chelsea mood for the half. In the next 12 minutes, the Blues bagged three more goals.
Palmer deftly finished from the edge of the area to level the scores, before Neto scored from a similar position to put Chelsea ahead, and then Danny Welbeck received the ball in the area, turning a defender the wrong way before beating the keeper for a great striker's goal.
12 minutes, four goals, and the Blues had hardly broken a sweat.
Credit after the game went to Palmer, named player of the match for two goals in two minutes to sink a dagger into Leeds' hearts and completely switch momentum from them to Chelsea.
But Rogers' display was perhaps the most impressive. He had three second-half assists, all of differing types - one knocked down off his backside perfectly into Palmer's path, the next essentially a tackle to beat a defender and put Neto through on goal, before playing the ball perfectly into the feet of Welbeck around the six-yard box.
Chelsea weren't done at 4-2, as they bagged a further two goals, Valentin Barco getting in on the act late on before Welbeck netted a second in stoppage time. The game finished 6-3, and the Blues dominated 45 minutes of it.
Chelsea attack is scary
The partnership of Palmer and Rogers has already roused this season. The former has four goals and an assist in five games this season, and the latter two goals and four assists in those same matches.
They completely took the game away from Leeds, with their quality showing in spades.
And one of the most scary things about that is how on top the Whites looked in the first 45, before the addition of just a few players changed things in Chelsea's favour.
The performance of Welbeck is also an encouraging sign for the Blues. In Joao Pedro, they have a 20-goal-a-season striker who has just earned a recall to the Brazil team after his start to the campaign.
But he didn't even play against Leeds, yet they scored six, and his deputy, a 35-year-old with bags of experience, looked entirely at home with the service provided by some of the country's best playmakers.
Alonso has got his signing right, and the balance of the team looks tremendous.
