Conte has preferred former Leicester player N’Golo Kante, Nemanja Matic and Oscar in central midfield in Chelsea‘s opening encounters but Fabregas showed he still has something to offer when he clipped the ball home two minutes into extra time.
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“For Cesc this is a special game for him, he’s playing very well for Chelsea and he’s very focused and concentrated”.
In the 89th minute Marcin Wasilewski was sent off for a foul on Diego Costa.
Chelsea looked more likely to win thereafter but they were thwarted by the home side repeatedly.
Some ponderous defending from Cahill and Azpilicueta, along with stand-in goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, allowed Okazaki to head the ball goalwards on 17 minutes from an angle, the ball just about sneaking over the line to give Leicester the first blow.
At the King Power Stadium, Shinji Okazaki put Premier League champions Leicester ahead in the 17th minute when the Japan striker punished bad Chelsea defending to head home from close range.
Chelsea managed to squeeze themselves back in the tie on the stroke of halftime, as un-marked Gary Cahill headed home from a corner. The first, a wonderful passing move from Chelsea was easily dispatched to Ron-Robert Zieler’s right.
Dan Gosling put the hosts ahead from close range in the 76th minute, only for Makienok to force extra-time in the 85th minute and then win it for Simon Grayson’s men in the 111th minute.
Another long pass from Luiz released the Spain worldwide and he shrugged off the challenge of Wasilewski to fire at Zieler and saw the goalkeeper palm his second effort behind.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, a young Arsenal side saw off Nottingham Forest 4-0, with two goals for new signing Lucas Perez.
Seven changes for both managers from their teams in the previous round of Premier League exertions.
Newcastle defeated Championship rivals Wolves 2-0, Leeds beat fellow second-tier side Blackburn 1-0, while Reading won 2-1 in another all-Championship clash at Brighton.
The Italian hinted at this in his pre-match press conference before last week’s 2-1 defeat by Liverpool, replying to an answer about Fabregas’ situation by telling reporters: “I always thought this team needed to find a good balance when you have possession of the ball and when you have not, and last season Chelsea conceded 55 goals”.
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Bournemouth are also out, having lost 3-2 to Preston in extra-time. Jake was gracious enough to spare a few minutes to talk with us about this year’s Chelsea squad, why things have been better so far for the Blues this season, and how he thinks tomorrow’s match will shake out.
