It had all the ingredients: a famous old ground packed and passionate; a Championship side buoyed by two previous Premier League scalps playing well above themselves again; and the Premier League leaders, with seven changes made and their eyes seemingly on greater triumphs, distinctly perturbed.
And yet Antonio Conte and Chelsea didn’t catch the romantic mood of the day. They looked like they might submit. Wolves’ Helder Costa looked like he might be the man of the moment. But cold-hearted Chelsea are simply too clinical at present to be indulgent.
After all, there is a Premier League and FA Cup double for which to aim in the absence of European football.