Marc Cucurella's second-half strike saw Chelsea edge a battling Leicester City 1-0 as Enzo Maresca's side moved up to fourth in the Premier League.
It was initially a day of frustration for the Blues in the west London sunshine as first a second-minute call for a penalty after the returning Luke Thomas caught Cole Palmer in the box was turned down by Darren England, who had a busy day as the Video Assistant Referee.
Palmer was soon involved again when Chelsea were given the ideal chance to open the scoring midway through the first half after Leicester defender Victor Kristiansen needlessly clipped Jadon Sancho from behind in the box, giving the England playmaker the opportunity to end his recent mini goal drought.
However Palmer, who had not scored or assisted in any of his previous six Premier League games, his longest spell since joining Chelsea in 2023, saw his penalty well saved by Leicester No 1 Mads Hermansen.
Cole Palmer rues a missed chance against Leicester
Image: Cole Palmer rues a missed chance against Leicester
The gasps heard around Stamford Bridge when Palmer failed to convert from the spot were because the player had never previously missed a penalty in the Premier League and that appeared to affect the hosts' confidence.
Twitter This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only.
Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once
Team news
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made two changes to the side that beat Southampton 4-0 in their last Premier League outing.
Robert Sanchez returned to the starting lineup in the top flight for the first time since the 3-1 defeat to Man City in January, while Wesley Fofana also made his first appearance since December after recovering from a hamstring injury.
Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy made three changes to the side that lost 2-0 to West Ham last week.
Luke Thomas, Patson Daka and Conor Coady came in for Jannik Vestergaard, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Facundo Buonanotte.
In fact, the visitors almost then took a shock lead after a mix-up at the back as the returning Robert Sanchez came and failed to gather James Justin's looping cross from the right, with Tosin heading on to his own bar, before Levi Colwill was there to clear the rebound off the line before Jamie Vardy could pounce.
However, the Blues came out on the front foot after half-time and deservedly took the lead on the hour mark through Cucurella's low strike from distance that fizzed past Hermansen and into the bottom right-hand corner.
Marc Cucurella scores Chelsea's opening goal against Leicester
Image: Marc Cucurella scores Chelsea's opening goal against Leicester
That ultimately proved the difference between the two teams as Chelsea moved back into the Champions League places thanks to a fourth consecutive home league win, while Ruud van Nistelrooy's side stay second from bottom having suffered a 12th loss in their last 13 top-flight games.
Story of the match in stats...
What's coming up in the Premier League?