6 takeaways from Chelsea’s emphatic victory over Middlesbrough

Having made hard work of the first leg, Chelsea breezed through to the Carabao Cup final with an emphatic 6-1 victory over Middlesbrough on Tuesday evening.

Sure, this was against a mid-table Championship side, but there was significant pressure on Chelsea heading into this game. Not only did the Blues rise to the occasion for arguably the first time in over a year, but they absolutely dazzled en route to silencing their critics.

Now unbeaten in their last nine home games, Chelsea feel as though they’re on the cusp of really putting the pieces together. Here are six takeaways from the latest victory.

Cole Palmer missed three sitters in the first leg but clearly came out here with a point to proove.

The summer signing pulled out some glorious skills and bagged two of Chelsea’s six goals, flashing the typical composure that, aside from the first leg, has earned him the nickname Cold Palmer to go along with his celebration.

Palmer already has more goals this season (11) across all competitions than any Chelsea player managed last year. Since Eden Hazard’s departure in 2019, Tammy Abraham’s 18 strikes in 47 games in 2019/20 has stood as the club’s single-season record, but Palmer is on pace to break that.

From Cold to Chilly.

Ben Chilwell made his first start in fourth months after returning from injury, lining up at left-back instead of the unusual left-wing position in which he began the campaign, and it immediately became clear just how important he is to Chelsea.

The captain on the evening, Chilwell bombed forward with real passion and intelligence. He wasn’t far off scoring (or winning a penalty) early on, wreaking havoc in a role which saw him play in defence, midfield and attack all at once.

Chelsea have sorely missed that influence this season, but hopefully Chilwell is here to stay now.

In Chilwell’s absence (and even before), it was Levi Colwill who was deployed at left-back. The 20-year-old is a sublime footballer but, with all due respect, he has been sorely wasted out wide.

The difference in impact between Colwill and Chilwell at left-back is almost night and day, which is largely to be expected since one of them is not actually a left-back. Colwill was returned to his native centre-back role against Boro and quickly flashed exactly what he can offer in that position.

Solid defensively,…