An action-packed encounter at the King Power Stadium saw play switch back and forth constantly, but it was Chelsea who held the sharper cutting edge to emerge victorious over Leicester City.

We took an early lead as Ben Chilwell silenced the home fans' boos on his return to his former club, smashing in an impressive low volley after Kalidou Koulibaly's lofted cross.

Joao Felix looked like he had made it 2-0 when he lifted a finish over the goalkeeper while latching on to a brilliant ball over the top from Kai Havertz, but it came back off the post, and the Portuguese was then denied by a tight VAR offside call, having stroked in Ruben-Loftus Cheek's pass across goal from close range.

However, following those two opportunities closely, Leicester found an equaliser, Patson Daka smashing a powerful effort from outside the box inside Kepa Arrizabalaga's near post after Joao Felix had been dispossessed in our half.

We went in at the break with the lead, though, as right on the brink of half-time Enzo Fernandez scooped an audacious pass over the Leicester defence and Havertz deftly lifted a volley over the keeper and under the crossbar.

Both teams were pushing hard for the next goal in an end-to-end second half, with Chelsea denied by another offside, this time Mykhailo Mudryk the man who thought he'd stretched our lead.

Almost immediately afterwards we did make it 3-1, Mudryk keeping Havertz's deep cross alive for Mateo Kovacic to volley in from eight yards, meaning the game was already over as a contest by the time Leicester's Wout Faes was sent off for a second booking with three minutes left.

The selection

Graham Potter made two changes to his line-up, both forced upon him, with Reece James and Raheem Sterling being ruled out by illness and injury respectively since the midweek Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund.

As a result, Mykhailo Mudryk came back into the starting XI in place of the latter, joining Kai Havertz and Joao Felix in our front three.

James was replaced on the right by Ruben Loftus-Cheek, while Ben Chillwell retained his place on the left, as did midfield duo Enzo Fernandez and Mateo Kovacic, the Croatian captaining the side.

The defence continued unchanged, with Wesley Fofana returning to his former club lining up alongside Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella, ahead of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The game settled into a good flow early on, with both teams exchanging spells in possession, Chelsea edging the overall play, but Leicester managing the first effort on goal, although Maddison’s low effort from range was straight at Kepa and easy for the Spaniard to deal with.

Chilly’s revenge

However, it was the Blues how forced the game’s first corner, exactly on the 10 minute mark. Chilwell went over to take it, with his former fans at the King Power Stadium making their feelings towards him known with loud boos.

The Chelsea wing-back had the last laugh, though. Koulibaly did his best impression of a winger to keep the half-cleared set-piece in play, beating his man on the left and lofting a cross back across goal. As it dropped towards Chilwell there was only one thing in his mind, striking a lovely volley low and past the goalkeeper at the near post from a tight angle.

The Blues supporters at the other end of the pitch were celebrating wildly as Chilwell made his way back to the same corner of the stadium which had just jeered his return, cupping his hands to his ears in response.

Leicester tried to hit straight back, as Maddison whipped a perilous free-kick across goal to the back post, but Chelsea were given a big let off when Daniel Amartey inexplicably headed wide from a few yards out.

Joao pushes for a second

We were unlucky not to be two ahead halfway through the first period as Joao Felix was denied what would have been a brilliant goal from our front three. When Havertz received the ball out on the right Mudryk, playing as the central striker on this occasion, peeled off to the right, opening up space for the Portuguese to run into beyond him.

The pass by Havertz was perfect, curling over and beyond the Leicester defence, and Joao Felix lifted it deftly over the keeper, only to see his effort come back off the right-hand post, the third time he has been denied by the frame since netting his first goal for Chelsea.

If we were feeling hard done by then, we were grateful for the woodwork almost immediately afterwards. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall received the ball in the centre of the pitch, but some way out, and attempted to curl an effort towards goal. For a moment it looked like a deflection off Koulibaly was going to take it beyond Kepa, but it spun back off the crossbar and our keeper was able to collect.

Such fine margins continued to influence the game as Joao Felix was denied a second Chelsea goal yet again, this time by VAR. It was another flowing move from the Blues, as Mudryk charged across the middle of the pitch with purpose, before feeding Loftus-Cheek in the right channel. When he squared across goal and Joao Felix tucked it in with a minimum of fuss it looked for all the world like we were 2-0 up, but then VAR intervened and chalked off the goal, as the Portuguese had strayed offside by a matter of inches.

Frantic end to the half

Despite having been unlucky not to extend our lead on two occasions, Leicester managed to find an equaliser before half-time. Joao Felix, so unfortunate not to have found the net twice, lost possession deep in our own half and Patson Daka took on the shot early, firing past Kepa at the near post before our keeper could recover his positioning and get across

It was the home side who were considering themselves unlucky not to be ahead when Kepa saved well to keep out Maddison and Iheanacho in quick succession, before the Chelsea players were left furious as Amartey went unpunished for catching Havertz straight-legged in the chest with his studs.

The German responded in the best way possible, by giving us the lead with an outrageous goal with virtually the last kick of the first half. Enzo deserves plenty of credit, as there didn't seem to be much on as he held up the ball just outside the box, but he somehow scooped an incredible pass over everyone, which was met by an equally impressive delicate volley from Kai to lob the stranded goalkeeper.

There was a change for the Blues during the half-time break, with Conor Gallagher on in place of Joao Felix, who had been in some pain after a high challenge right at the start of the game. The change didn’t initially seem to disrupt our rhythm, though, as another former Leicester player was close to extending our leave within moments of the restart. It was a Chilwell corner causing trouble again, which Fofana met to head towards goal at the near post with an almost identical effort to the one he scored against Leeds last week, but this time Ward managed to tip over the bar.

Standing strong

There were some heavy challenges raining down from the Leicester players, who seemed to be trying to unsettle the Blues. Following those on Joao Felix and Havertz in the first half, Mudryk, Enzo and Kepa were all left floored and requiring treatment in the first 10 minutes of the second.

However, with half-an-hour left, Kepa hadn’t been tested again, although we did have to hack clear from inside the six-yard box when Faes met a corner well. Gallagher was dropping deeper to help out in midfield, leaving Mudryk and Havertz looking a little isolated at times, but the front two were still managing to pose a threat, as shown when Havertz fired high and wide from the edge of the box after combining well with the Ukrainian.

Mudryk’s pace was causing more problems as Leicester tried to push forward for an equaliser, with one direct run giving us a corner and nearly a third goal. Another good Chilwell delivery found the head of Havertz on the penalty spot, but Ward somehow got down quickly with a strong hand to turn it away.

There was a massive let off for the Blues with just under 20 minutes remaining. Kepa came off his line to deal with Tete’s cross, but could only claw it as far as Harvey Barnes. When the Leicester winger headed back towards the centre it looked like Dewsbury-Hall was certain to score with half the goal empty to aim for, but somehow he managed to get the ball stuck under his foot as he shot and it rolled harmlessly into the grateful keeper’s arms.

Daylight secured

In an increasingly frantic end-to-end game, we then had the ball in the back of the net for the fourth time in the game, on this occasion Mudryk believing he had scored his first Chelsea goal after racing clear and slotting home confidently, but then the linesman’s flag was raised for offside and it didn’t stand.

Not to be disheartened, it took just a few moments longer for us to finally get the third goal and margin for error we had threatened on so many occasions, and again it was a top-quality strike. Enzo released Havertz down the right with a delightful outside-of-the-boot pass. The German’s cross was slightly overhit, but Mudryk kept it alive well by knocking back inside off his shoulder, where Kovacic met the ball with a lovely flicked volley past Ward and into the back of the net.

Despite the best efforts of the woodwork and VAR all afternoon, Chelsea finally had a two-goal lead at the King Power Stadium, and it wasn't one we ever looked like relinquishing after working so hard to secure it, especially once Leicester were reduced to 10 men for the final few minutes when Faes received his second booking for a rash challenge on Benoit Badiashile.

What's next?

We return to west London for our next Premier League fixture, hosting Everton at Stamford Bridge in the late kick-off at 5.30pm next Saturday 18 March.

Chelsea (3-4-3): Kepa; W. Fofana (Badiashile 86), Koulibaly, Cucurella; Loftus-Cheek (Chalobah 73), Enzo, Kovacic (c), Chilwell (Pulisic 73); Havertz, Mudryk (Chukwuemeka 82), Joao Felix (Gallagher h-t)
Unused subs: Bettinelli, Zakaria, Madueke, Ziyech
Scorer: Chilwell 11, Havertz 45+6, Kovacic 78
Booked: W. Fofana 13, Cucurella 31

Leicester City (3-4-3): Ward; Amartey (Tete 67), Souttar, Faes; Pereira, Dewsbury-Hall, Mendy (Soumare 67), Castagne; Iheanacho (Vardy 76), Daka (Barnes 67), Maddison (c) (Evans 90)
Unused subs: Iversen, Thomas, Ndidi, Praet
Scorer: Daka 39
Booked: Faes 19, 87, Pereira 51
Sent off: Faes 87

Referee: Andre Marriner

Crowd: 32,170