The anarchy into which this tie descended through extra-time actually made Chelsea’s eventual progress feel almost incidental. Antonio Conte had cause to celebrate Willy Caballero’s fine save and a perfect quintet of penalties in the shootout, but he was still a man on the edge long after the final whistle. So much of this had been the stuff of nightmares.

He could curse Norwich City’s hugely merited equaliser deep into stoppage time at the end of the 90 minutes, a flicked header from Jamal Lewis which thrust the hosts into an extra period they must have dreaded given their cluttered schedule. But then there were the trio of home players booked for diving, and the dismissals for Pedro and Álvaro Morata – two of those who had gone to ground – for second bookable offences in the last three minutes. The second red card prompted one irate home supporter to encroach on the penalty area to berate the referee, Graham Scott.

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By then, heckles had been raised with no one inside the stadium clear when the official was referring decisions to the video assistant referee, Mike Jones. Willian’s caution, despite appearing to have been clipped by Timm Klose in the penalty box at the start of extra time, had apparently not been reviewed by Scott, presumably as Jones did not deem it to have been a clear and obvious mistake.

Conte, infuriated on the touchline, frantically shouted “VAR” while gesticulating for its use at a helpless fourth official. He was still simmering as Eden Hazard stroked home the hosts’ fifth penalty to quell Norwich’s challenge once and for all.

The wounds inflicted here will pursue them to Brighton on Saturday lunchtime. Pedro, booked for a dive and then a foul on Wes Hoolahan, and Morata will be missing at the Amex Stadium, the latter having first been cautioned for tumbling away from Christoph Zimmermann and then shown a second yellow for protesting the referee’s decision. That will presumably offer Michy Batshuayi, a player Chelsea would be willing to loan to Sevilla if a replacement could be purchased, another opportunity on the south coast, with the Belgian having at least emerged from a disjointed first-half display to pilfer his side’s lead from Kenedy’s low centre.

Morata had replaced him nine minutes from time and might have scored to settle the tie, steering a header wide of the far post, but Norwich had carried a threat on the counter throughout and eventually plucked reward. Nelson Oliveira and Josh Murphy had already struck the woodwork when, just as their opportunity appeared to have gone, with Chelsea seeking to close down the contest, they rallied four minutes into added time. Klose’s centre was optimistic but Lewis, a 19-year-old graduate of Norwich’s youth system, infiltrated space between centre-halves to head in the equaliser off the far post.

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Thereafter, Angus Gunn kept the hosts at bay as Conte flung Hazard and the cavalry into the fray in the hope Premier League quality might tell. The Manchester City loanee’s brilliance in extra-time, denying Willian and Morata twice from close range, took the breath away. He had been just as acrobatic in tipping Danny Drinkwater’s earlier effort on to the crossbar at full stretch. The England under-21 international goalkeeper’s only frustration was his inability to muster a save in the shoot-out though, in truth, that could not be counted against him. Caballero, denying Oliveira, pulled off the decisive intervention.

For a team who have seen five experienced players depart Carrow Road since the original tie, this was still an admirable display from the Championship side even if that might have been lost amid the controversy. Klose might even have plundered the latest of winners with a free header in what time remained after Morata’s dismissal. “There are players in our dressing room with tears in their eyes,” said Daniel Farke, Norwich’s manager. “We were so close to creating a really big, big sensation.” Newcastle will hope to go one better when they visit in the fourth round.