Cole Palmer misses pair of sitters as Chelsea go behind against Middlesbrough | OneFootball

Highlights

Cole Palmer had his head in his hands after he missed two glorious opportunities to score for Chelsea during their Carabao Cup semi-final match against Middlesbrough. The Premier League side came into the game as huge favourites, but things weren't quite as straightforward as they perhaps anticipated.

Michael Carrick's team actually made things very difficult for the Blues in the first half, creating several promising goalscoring opportunities for themselves in the early stages.

Palmer was first gifted an easy chance to give Chelsea the lead

Jonny Howson's poor pass played him through on goal

The Championship side offered Chelsea an incredible chance to take the lead, though, when Jonny Howson's misplaced pass at the back saw Palmer pick up the ball and run through on goal with just Tom Glover to beat.

Considering the form he's in, you'd have bet your house on the former Manchester City man hitting the back of the net, but he inexplicably failed to convert and somehow even missed the target completely. It was a surprising mistake from the Englishman who's had such a fantastic start to life at Stamford Bridge so far.

Moments later, it came back to haunt Chelsea too as Middlesbrough took the lead through Hayden Hackney in the 37th minute. There's still plenty of time to turn things around for the Blues, with another half of football against Carrick's side here and the second leg of the semi-final next week, but Palmer, alongside the rest of his teammates, will be hoping that the error won't prove to be the moment that costs the Blues a spot at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final.

He then missed an even easier chance to equalise

He missed an open goal from inches out

If the first miss wasn't bad enough, Palmer did it again after Middlesbrough had taken the lead and this time, it was an even easier chance. After Glover failed to keep ahold of the ball, he palmed it into the path of Palmer and the midfielder had the entire open goal gaping in front of him. All he had to do was poke it into the empty net from yards out.

Somehow, though, he mishit the ball and managed to actually fire it over the bar. It was probably harder to miss than it was to score, but he missed anyway and allowed Middlesbrough to head into halftime with their 1-0 lead intact. Only time will tell how the second half shapes up and whether those misses will prove costly for Chelsea. There's no doubt the former City man would like even just one of them back.