Holders Chelsea crashed out of the League Cup in the fourth round after Jack Butland’s penalty shootout heroics earned 10-man Stoke City a 5-4 spot-kick win that cranked the pressure up on Jose Mourinho.
Butland, who pulled off a string of fine stops throughout normal and extra time, saved from Eden Hazard after all the previous nine spot-kicks had been converted to decide a tense contest that Chelsea had dragged themselves back into at the death in normal time.
Jonathan Walters struck a goal worthy of winning any contest to give Stoke the lead early in the second half before Loic Remy’s injury-time equaliser took the tie the distance at the Britannia Stadium.
Despite seeing his team outplay Stoke for much of the game on Tuesday, Mourinho was subjected to ‘sacked in the morning’ taunts from the home side’s supporters as Chelsea suffered another significant setback following a poor start to their Premier League title defence. An injury blow to Diego Costa compounded matters further.