With Reece James injured and Enzo Fernandez unavailable, the captain’s armband was handed to Palmer as we bid to reach Wembley and the FA Cup semi-finals.

The Blues did so in emphatic fashion. Jorrel Hato opened the scoring after just 63 seconds and Joao Pedro and an own goal from Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel, forced by Palmer, gave us a comfortable advantage at the interval.

In the second period, Liam Rosenior’s side further asserted our dominance. Tosin Adarabioyo scored our fourth, Andrey Santos the fifth, Estevao Willian grabbed our sixth, and Alejandro Garnacho rounded off the afternoon with our seventh via a late penalty.

Palmer’s appearance against Port Vale was his 123rd for the Blues; skippering the side to Wembley ensured it was a memorable one for the England international.

‘Long time coming,’ Palmer said with a smile when asked how it felt to wear the armband. ‘It was a proud moment being captain. I enjoyed it and it was a good afternoon.’

He continued: ‘We needed to win. It was a difficult four games [before the international break] but to get to a semi-final at Wembley was very important.’

Port Vale’s visit to Stamford Bridge marked the start of the season run-in, with the Blues having seven Premier League games remaining in addition to our FA Cup semi-final.

And Palmer emphasised the importance of the Blues entering a run of fixtures, which begins with visits from Manchester City and Manchester United in the top flight, in good spirits.

‘It’s nice to see everyone getting involved [with the goals] and laughing, joking and smiling after the game,’ explained our No.10 following a game in which seven different players got on the scoresheet.

‘I think it will give everyone a lift. Playing, winning and scoring goals is good for everyone. Getting back to that winning feeling was nice and hopefully we can take that on to Manchester City.’