But shortly after Chelsea netted their third goal of the evening, tempers flared between both sets of players following an initial altercation between West Ham’s Adama Traore and Blues defender Trevoh Chalobah. What followed was a brawl that involved several members of both teams, with referee Anthony Taylor – along with his VAR team – left to sort out an almighty mess.

After a lengthy VAR check, Taylor was eventually sent to the monitor, where he decided Jean-Clair Todibo’s actions were worthy of a sending off. The West Ham defender had been spotted by the VAR assistants, grabbing Joao Pedro by the throat and attempting to throw him to the ground.

Remarkably, only three players – including Todibo – were punished with cards for their part in the scuffle, with Traore and Pedro given yellows by Taylor. Konstantinos Mavropanos might consider himself lucky to have avoided a ref card of his own, with replays suggesting he appeared to slap Cole Palmer amid the chaos.

When play finally resumed, Chelsea – with the man advantage – had a corner to defend, which the west Londoners saw off to confirm a gutsy comeback win. It’s a result that drags Chelsea into the Champions League positions and piles the pressure on their fellow continental hopefuls.

Reflecting on the comeback at full-time, Cucurella told Sky Sports: “At half-time we speak, in the end its about our mentality and desire we showed in the second half, we are very happy. [Liam Rosenior] said it’s about us, if we go to press, want the ball, play with confidence, we will get the chances to win.

“We have very good players, a very good team, since the start of the second half we showed a lot of energy and desire. If we play with this energy we are able to win at lot of games.”

While Joao Pedro added: “Sometimes this can happen, but we have a strong squad. We showed we are capable to do it, now we must look forward an continue. We knew our power. It’s another special day. This team is very young but everyone trusts each other, this is our power. We can improve a lot, but this game is important to show the fans how strong we are.”