Raheem Sterling’s first Blues goals came in a 16-minute salvo at the start of the second half, a brilliant curling effort followed by a predatory finish from close range. That followed the first-half dismissal of Conor Gallagher, who saw red for two quick bookings.

It was a far from straightforward afternoon’s work, with Harvey Barnes reducing the deficit swiftly and the hosts forced to defend desperately in the closing stages, also relying on Edouard Mendy to make a couple of key saves.

The Foxes finished with 12 shots to our five but the scoreline remained in Chelsea’s favour, the result of great effort and endeavour in the south-west London sunshine.

The selection

Trevoh Chalobah made his first appearance of the season as the solitary change from our defeat at Leeds United last time out, replacing the suspended Kalidou Koulibaly in defence.

It was a rejigged shape for the Blues, who lined up with four at the back and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in an advanced midfield role.

Kai Havertz partnered Sterling in attack, while Gallagher was picked alongside Jorginho in central midfield by Thomas Tuchel, who watched from the stands as he served a one-game touchline ban.

Feel-good feeling

Despite taking four points from our opening three Premier League matches of the campaign, there was a feel-good atmosphere around Stamford Bridge at kick-off for our first Saturday 3pm start of 2022/23, with SW6 drenched in summer sunshine and anticipation.

That was aided by the pre-match pitchside presence of Fran Kirby, Millie Bright and Bethany England, three of our Lionesses who helped England to victory at the recent Euros. The trio were afforded a warm welcome as they were presented to the crowd before kick-off, with Chelsea Women back at Kingsmeadow on Sunday in their final pre-season friendly against Tottenham.

Once the game got started, the home side’s tempo and intent offered plenty of positives as Thomas Tuchel’s 4-2-2-2 allowed for rotations and flexibility among the central front four. One early turnover of possession initiated by Jorginho winning the ball saw Sterling advance and roll in a perfect cross along the floor for Loftus-Cheek, though Foxes keeper Danny Ward scampered across his goal-line and was able to keep out the close-range effort.

Penalty overturned

The opener appeared imminent after 12 minutes when the Blues were awarded a penalty following a clumsy tangle in the box involving Loftus-Cheek and Youri Tielemans, the latter penalised by referee Paul Tierney despite protestations from the visitors.

However, the obligatory VAR check spotted an infringement that had escaped the naked eye and Havertz was judged to have been marginally offside in the build-up, thereby chalking out the penalty award. It was a let-off for Leicester, who had struggled to contain our early pressure and probing.

Conor's quick cards

The half’s decisive moment came just before the 30-minute mark when Gallagher picked up a second booking following a clumsy foul on halfway to stop a Leicester counter-attack in its tracks. Barnes was the victim of a trailing foot, with the Blues bemoaning the fact the break had come from our corner, which was wasted by Marc Cucurella.

Gallagher had no choice but to begrudgingly accept his fate and walk off with his head bowed, while from the stands above the dugout Tuchel shuffled Loftus-Cheek into a deeper role alongside Jorginho.

Celebrations cut short

It wasn’t just Chelsea celebrations cut short in a frantic half at the Bridge. Leicester’s travelling supporters were sent into raptures when Barnes turned in a loose ball from a corner but the referee quickly chalked it off for a foul on Edouard Mendy.

Barnes was the guilty party, his arms all over our Senegalese stopper as he won the initial header from an inswinging left-sided corner to head against the crossbar. He was quickest to react but those efforts ultimately came to nothing.

In the latter stages of the first period, the contest was pulled open. Reece James crashed the ball against the upright from the right after Sterling’s inswinging cross fell nicely into his path, with Ward beaten but the woodwork saving Leicester.

Jamie Vardy then spurned a great chance down the other end, scuffing wide of the far post having escaped in behind to race onto a forward pass from Tielemans. In the final action of the half, Mendy was called to make his first serious save of the game as he sprung quickly off his line to thwart Timothy Castagne from the right.

Supreme Raheem

There was plenty to ponder at the break for Tuchel, who darted down from his seat in the East Stand to address the players in the changing room. The significant switch was to introduce Cesar Azpilicueta and change to a back three, with James and Cucurella moved to wing-back.

Within two minutes, the Blues had their precious breakthrough and it was a first in Chelsea colours for Sterling, aided by a handy deflection off the toe of Daniel Amartey. The England forward worked space cleverly on the edge of the box and took aim, with the extra nick helping the ball loop over Ward and perfectly into the top corner.

Sterling’s celebrations befitted the moment and the 27-year-old almost had a second within minutes as he latched onto a cross from Cucurella, though his low effort cannoned back off the far post.

Having ended the first half in the ascendancy, Leicester hadn’t got started in the second and had just a solitary headed effort from distance by Barnes to take for their efforts early after the restart, which Mendy gathered with ease.

Instead it was the home side’s forwards causing problems and Sterling had his second of the afternoon just after the hour mark to hand us a two-goal lead. This one owed much to the pinpoint accuracy of James’s delivery, whipped across the face of goal to hand the unmarked Sterling a simple finish from a few yards out.

Leicester make it difficult

The frenetic nature of the contest and Chelsea’s man disadvantage meant that was unlikely to be the end of things though and Brendan Rodgers’s men were soon making things difficult for the Blues.

It was the lively Barnes who halved the deficit just three minutes after Sterling’s second, finally getting on the scoresheet after his earlier disallowed effort. The move was slick as he exchanged a one-two with Vardy and accelerated down the left channel before smashing a fine finish beyond Mendy at the near post.

Barnes continued to cause problems as Leicester went in search of an equaliser in the final 20 minutes and at times it was just the last line of defence keeping us ahead as Mendy made himself big and influential between the posts.

First he stayed on his toes and got down smartly to keep out a low strike from Barnes, who had cut inside James from the left, before he quickly got in the face of Vardy to deny the number nine inside the six-yard box.

Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic were introduced to add much-needed fresh legs as our energy levels inevitably dropped in the closing stages, the atmosphere also becoming nervy as memories wandered back to our stoppage-time concession last time out against Tottenham.

That moment almost came after 83 minutes when Vardy snuck behind the last defender Chalobah and advanced towards goal, rounding Mendy as the Matthew Harding Stand behind the goal held its breath. Our goalkeeper stayed on his feet as long as possible to close the angle and Vardy was subsequently unable to wrap his foot around the ball, instead firing straight into the side-netting.

One last let-off was to come when substitute Ayoze Perez crashed an effort onto the underside of the bar and the danger was ultimately scrambled away, the Blues left exhausted and relieved as a hard-won three points were finally secured.

What’s next?

It’s a midweek trip to the South Coast as we take on Southampton on Tuesday before hosting West Ham next Saturday at the Bridge.

Chelsea (4-2-2-2) Mendy; James, Thiago Silva, Chalobah, Cucurella (Chilwell 90+2); Gallagher, Jorginho (c) (Kovacic 75); Loftus-Cheek, Mount (Azpilicueta h/t); Havertz, Sterling (Pulisic 75)
Unused subs Kepa, Ampadu, Hudson-Odoi, Ziyech, Broja
Scorer Sterling 47, 63
Booked Gallagher 21; Havertz 90+3
Sent off Gallagher 28

Leicester City (4-2-3-1) Ward; Castagne, Amartey, Evans (c), Justin; Tielemans (Ndidi 89), Soumare (Iheanacho 55); Praet (Perez 55), Dewsbury-Hall, Barnes; Vardy
Unused subs Iversen, Albrighton, Thomas, Soyuncu, Mendy, Daka
Scorer Vardy 66
Booked Dewsbury-Hall 31; Praet 39

Referee Paul Tierney
Crowd 39,953