All over the place during a wretched first half, an inspired comeback had Chelsea celebrating at full time. Introduced with Chelsea 2-1 down against Napoli and staring at the prospect of a two-leg playoff to reach the last 16 of the Champions League, Palmer was minimalistic but impactful. He was involved when Chelsea pulled it back to 2-2, drifting in from the right to tee up João Pedro for a ­barnstorming equaliser. There was a lot of possession for Chelsea at the start of the second half but the challenge was making it count in the final third. Chelsea, with their first away win at this level since October 2022, had silenced some of the noise about their inexperience.