Leeds United vs Chelsea: Results, highlights, and analysis of Leeds United’s victory over Chelsea
At Elland Road, rampaging Leeds defeated Chelsea 3-0 to continue Rodrigo Moreno‘s impressive start to the Premier League season.
Brenden Aaronson scored the game’s first goal in the 33rd minute thanks to a terrible blunder by Edouard Mendy, and in-form Spanish attacker Rodrigo made it four goals in three games this season when he headed in Jack Harrison’s superb free-kick delivery four minutes later.
While Chelsea had largely disappeared as an attacking force by the time Rodrigo and Harrison switched roles in the 69th minute for the latter to finish from close range, Raheem Sterling missed a good opportunity for Thomas Tuchel’s visitors in the first minute and had a goal disallowed for offside when the game was still 0-0.
Seven points and seven goals have been scored in three games for Leeds under Jesse Marsch, a promising start to the season.
Tuchel has lost his last two games, hasn’t had a forward player score, and saw Chelsea’s woes come to an end when Kalidou Koulibaly was given a second yellow card for intentionally fouling replacement Joe Gelhardt.
1H 2H Final
LEE 2 1 3
CHE 0 0 0
Goals:
LEE — Brenden Aaronson — 33rd min
LEE — Rodrigo Moreno (Jack Harrison) — 37th min
LEE — Jack Harrison (Rodrigo Moreno) — 69th min
Chelsea’s front three were more menacing with Sterling on the left and Kai Havertz in the center, but their afternoon unraveled after Mendy’s regrettable moment.
The Senegal goalkeeper took a basic backpass, but his initial touch was poor, and his approximation of a Cruyff spin around Aaronson was terrible. The Leeds winger reached into his pocket and rolled in a goalline finish.
When Sterling connected with Marc Roca, the visitors lost their composure and Harrison had the chance to deliver a precise free kick, which Rodrigo finished off.
Conor Gallagher found space down the right during the first few minutes of the second half when Tuchel attempted to modify his formation, but Marc Cucurella smashed over to stop the assault.
As gaps began to open up for Leeds’ persistent runners, Dan James stood up a left-wing cross that Rodrigo was able to punch down and Harrison was able to get inside.
One or two of Koulibaly’s colleagues may have been envious when he was ordered to leave the field six minutes before the end of the game.
Once more, it’s important to note that Chelsea had a decent first half in a Sunday matchup. Tuchel had been covering up some of the fissures before Mendy’s error caused the fall. Although Koulibaly appeared to be a brilliant summer acquisition, both of his bookings were careless. Given his potential as an attacking wing-back, Reece James felt squandered playing on the right side of the back three. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is less naturally suited for the job than he is.
A central midfield two without N’Golo Kante and with the more attack-minded Gallagher was overrun, with Jorginho finding the effervescence of Leeds’ Roca and Tyler Adams a particular problem. At the left-wing back, Marc Cucurella has left Ben Chilwell stewing on the bench. Sterling, Havertz, and Mount then began together for the third time this season but were unable to score. Overall, it’s depressing to read.
Due to the mid-season World Cup, discussions regarding who is “on the aircraft” have already begun. Due to England’s poor performance in the Nations League this summer, Gareth Southgate has made it clear that he will stay with lineups that have shown themselves time and time again. However, a bolter from the pack is always conceivable, and Harrison is currently in fantastic shape.
It is difficult to picture the 25-year-old making any team worse because he is a dead-ball specialist with a wand of a left foot and an insatiable desire for a hard effort. Only two England Under-21 caps are to his credit, and he made his professional debut with New York City in Major League Soccer. It would not be the most traditional route to full international honours but by selecting his former club-mate Kalvin Phillips a couple of years ago, Southgate showed he is happy to realize the value of casting his net a little wider.
Fulltime: That is a statement win for Leeds and their head coach Jesse Marsch, unquestionably the American’s finest moment since coming to the Premier League. Perhaps this is finally the performance to move Leeds on from the much-loved Marcelo Bielsa era. They needed Mendy’s error to open the door for them today but they duly stormed through. It was a magnificent performance. For Chelsea, after a couple of performances that belied a poor pre-season, this was the sort of horror show Tuchel might have hoped he had averted.
90th minute: We’ll have three torturous minutes of injury time for Chelsea to endure.
87th minute: Tuchel is sending on Cesar Azpilicueta to hang on to a 3-0 defeat. It’s a pretty desperate state of affairs.
85th minute: RED CARD! Koulibaly is off! A brainless piece of play from the former Napoli man, who was on a yellow card and pulled back scampering substitute Gelhardt to leave referee Stuart Atwell with no choice. Chelsea’s humiliation is complete unless they let any more goals in.
82nd minute: Time for Marsch to bask in this and ring the changes. Goalscorers Aaronson, Rodrigo, and Harrison all depart to heroes’ ovations.
77th minute: Chelsea’s players are near the bench taking on some drinks. Tuchel is barking out various instructions but, barring anything ludicrous, this race is run. Ben Chilwell is on for Mount.
71st minute: This could get embarrassing for Chelsea. Harrison and Rodrigo pull them apart again but Mendy rushes out to make a save this time.
69th minute: GOOAALLLL!!!! Harrison!
That surely settles it and it’s a rich reward for Harrison’s brilliant showing. James chips one into the box from the left, Rodrigo knocks it back across the goal and he returns the favour of Harrison’s earlier assist.
64th minute: An initial outcome is James finding himself in a more advanced position for a low drive, which Meslier saves well.
63rd minute: I guess one way to avoid getting overrun in midfield is simply to not have one. Gallagher and Jorginho make way for Chelsea, with Ziyech and Pulisic into the fray. Let’s see how this attacking reshuffle plays out.
61st minute: Roca departs to a standing ovation and on comes Adam Forshaw. If you were to list the last things Chelsea would want right now, fresh legs in the Leeds midfield would be fairly close to the top of the list.
59th minute: Brilliant play from Harrison, who loses his footing near the touchline but still manages to beat two Chelsea challenges. The attack eventually breaks down but Leeds’ tireless midfield runners are finding space now their visitors are looking to commit an extra man to the attack.
56th minute: Harrison surges towards the back post to try and meet James’ searching cross from the right but Chelsea re able to clear behind. The corner is partially cleared, Adams has a rasper blocked and Gallagher fails to pick out Havertz with a pass on the break.
52nd minute: The ball pings around in the Leeds box and Meslier saves from Gallagher before the flag goes up. Chelsea is certainly getting more players into attacking positions, as they must.
50th minute: Sterling leads a Chelsea break and finds Mount, whose shot is blocked by Koch.
47th minute: As part of that reshuffle, Gallagher is on the right of midfield. From that position, he fashions an opening in the Leeds box. Mount touches back to Cucurella but he shoots wildly off-target right-footed.
46th minute: Back underway, no changes in terms of personnel for Chelsea but it looks like Tuchel has tweaked his setup to a back four for the second period.
Halftime: Chelsea pressed continuously during the closing moments of the half but Leeds saw things out to maintain their two-goal advantage at the break. In some respects, Tuchel will feel his side is unfortunate to be two behind, but they are because of the sort of nightmare four minutes you cannot afford to be throwing around.
40th minute: Chelsea should have one back. Loftus-Cheek gets down the right flank and his cutback finds Cucurella in oceans of room but the former Brighton man fires wide.
37th minute: GOOOAALLLL!!!!! Rodrigo!!!!
That’s the Spain forward’s seventh of the season. The delivery from Harrison is typically superb, the run well-timed to the near post and Rodrigo heads home emphatically.
36th minute: Sterling is into the book for a foul on Roca and Leeds has a free-kick in a dangerous position.
33rd minute: GOOAAALLL!!!!! Aaronson!!!!
Oh my absolute word, Edouard Mendy. What are you playing at? Chelsea’s goalkeeper has an absolute nightmare after receiving a short backpass. The tireless Aaronson is inevitably the man chasing down to enjoy a simple finish on the goal line.
31st minute: Rodrigo gets another sight of goal but can’t shake James and Mendy pouches his shot. He might have been better off looking inside for a pass there.
26th minute: Sterling harasses Koch again and the Leeds defender can only shovel a clearance to Cucurella, whose cross is cleared. The hosts just struggled to get out over the past few minutes.
22nd minute: Good header down from Havertz and Mount has the Leeds defense backpedaling. The England star clips a left-footed shot towards the near post but Meslier gets down sharply to tip behind.
20th minute: Rodrigo springs the Chelsea offside trap and, running away from goal, arrows a shot back across and beyond Mendy’s far post. It was only half a chance but that is all the in-form Spaniard will feel he needs right now.
15th minute: GOOAA… no. Lovely feet from Sterling and no mistake with the finish this time. But Koch stepped up in the nick of time and he was offside.
13th minute: Havertz pinged for offside. The Germany international hasn’t really done too much of note so far, but his very presence as the central attacker is giving the Chelsea forward line a more dynamic look than the first two games of the season.
9th minute: No matter how high the much-discussed bar is this season, that’s a yellow card. Koulibaly into the book for pulling back the livewire Aaronson and dragging him over. Leeds is making this uncomfortable for Chelsea.
7th minute: Struijk got to a bouncing ball first then Loftus-Cheek arrived a fraction late. There’s obviously quite a lot of Loftus-Cheek to arrive late and that looked like a painful blow. The Leeds defender is okay to continue, though and the Chelsea man gets no more than a talking-to from the referee.
5th minute: Switching Sterling out to his favoured role on the left flank certainly looks like it can pay dividends. The former Man City man gets in again and possession is worked to Loftus-Cheek via Havertz. The wing-back is crowded out and it’s a corner, which Mount fails to get beyond the first man.
4th minute: Leeds is looking to set a typically frenetic tempo and Harrison gets a ball in a similar area to the earlier Sterling chance. There are more defensive bodies back for Chelsea, though, and Mendy gathers his shot.
1st minute: Early opening for Sterling, who cuts inside past a couple of challenges. It’s trademark stuff but he can’t quite find the finish his shot curls beyond the far post. Gallagher slid the pass-through to launch that attack.
4 mins from kickoff: ‘Marching on Together’ is ringing around Elland Road on a sunkissed Sunday lunchtime and here come the teams.
20 mins from kickoff: Raheem Sterling’s already much-discussed Sky Sports interview about the end of his time at Manchester City has been aired on the live broadcast. The England forward would love to open his Chelsea account today.
45 mins from kickoff: Marsch, who seemingly sees himself as a red cards connoisseur, is ready to greet Tuchel this afternoon.
55 mins from kickoff: There’s also a solitary change for Leeds, with Dan James replacing the injured Patrick Bamford to start alongside the in-form Rodrigo Moreno in attack.
1hr from kickoff: There we have it. N’Golo Kante is out injured so Gallagher starts alongside Jorginho in central midfield. It’s Tuchel’s only change from the Spurs game, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek retaining his place.
1hr 10 mins from kickoff: Some rumours whipping about online that Conor Gallagher could be in line for his first Chelsea start. If that comes as part of the central midfield two, it would certainly help to shift the team’s attacking balance.
1hr 20 mins from kickoff: The Conte soap opera aside, Tuchel will have taken plenty of positives from a 2-2 draw against Tottenham that his side really should have won. After an uneven pre-season, the Blues have started their campaign strongly. However, they lack a bit of cutting edge at the moment. Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner have both left and none of their goals in the campaign so far have come from the starting front three of Raheem Sterling, Kai Havertz, and Mason Mount. We’re 20 minutes away from learning whether Tuchel has opted to reshuffle.
1hr 40 mins from kickoff: So, after all that carry-on last weekend, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel will be on the touchline after the FA “temporarily suspended his one-match ban. At least Jesse Marsch tends to be the shy and retiring type…
2hrs from kickoff: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Premier League match between Leeds United and Chelsea at Elland Road.
Marsch selected an unchanged line-up for the first two games of the season, although Patrick Bamford’s latest injury setback forced him into a first-half change at Southampton.
Dan James comes in to start in attack alongside surprise early Golden Boot frontrunner Rodrigo Moreno, who followed up his opening-day goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers with a brace last weekend.
Leeds lineup (4-2-3-1): Meslier (GK) — Kristensen, Koch, Llorente, Struijk — Roca, Adams — Aaronson, Rodrigo, Harrison — James
Ruben Loftus-Cheek was handed a surprise start against Tottenham, with Reece James starting on the right of the back three. in defense. Those selections gave Tuchel some flexibility in terms of shape and he’s gone with the same approach as Conor Gallagher replacing the injured N’Golo Kante in midfield.
Christian Pulisic was on the scoresheet in this game last season and the USA star is on the bench this time around amid links with Manchester United.
Chelsea lineup (3-4-3): Mendy (GK) — James, Thiago Silva, Koulibaly — Loftus-Cheek, Gallagher, Jorginho, Cucurella — Mount, Sterling, Havertz.
UK: The Leeds-Chelsea match will be televised and streamed by Sky Sports in the UK.
USA: The match will be carried by USA Network (English) and Telemundo (Spanish), with both those channels streaming on fuboTV.
Australia: Fans in Australia can stream matches live and on-demand on Optus Sport.
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