Liam Rosenior's perfect Premier League start is over. After succeeding Enzo Maresca in January, the 41-year-old won his first four league matches in charge of Chelsea, overseeing victories against Brentford, Crystal Palace, West Ham and then Wolves. So, when fellow-strugglers Leeds United visited Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, most expected this sequence to continue.
This certainly looked like being the case when João Pedro broke the deadlock, before the Brazilian was pushed over by Jaka Bijol, with Cole Palmer, of course, dispatching the subsequent spot-kick. However, against all odds, Leeds fought back to earn a share of the spoils.
A foul by Moisés Caicedo presented the visitors with a penalty of their own before, five minutes, later, some lackadaisical defending allowed Noah Okafor to score the easiest goal of his life. In the final seconds of the night, Palmer blazed a glorious chance to win it over the bar, it appeared easier to score, meaning it finished 2-2 in West London, very much two points dropped for the home side.
What Liam Rosenior said following Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Leeds
Speaking after Tuesday's very disappointing draw against Leeds, Rosenior could not hide his frustrations:
" I have to say, the last 20 minutes was wave after wave of attack... but we shouldn't be in that position. When we lead at 2-0, the game should be done at home and there are certain things I can show the players, so we make sure that that can't happen again."
The manager did not blame Palmer's late miss for the dropped points, asserting that 999 times out of a thousand the England international would score that opportunity.
Prior to this draw, Rosenior hadn't really faced any set backs as Blues boss. He had won every game, aside from both legs of the EFL Cup semi-finals against Arsenal, most notably guiding Chelsea into the round of 16 in the Champions League.
Well, there is little time for Rosenior to stew on this result, as his team are in action again as soon as Friday night. The head coach will return to the MKM Stadium to take on Hull City in the FA Cup, having been in the Tigers' starting XI for the 2014 final against Arsenal.
After that, Chelsea will have eight days without a fixture before Burnley visit Stamford Bridge, so these are two winnable matches, albeit Leeds' midweek comeback will give both teams hope of an upset.