Saturday evening saw Leeds United brushed aside by a Chelsea team that dominated the match from start to finish at Stamford Bridge. Clearly, the superior Chelsea quality and attackers proved the difference – and was perhaps the first sign of Leeds being outdone by an attacking team. Illan Meslier and Patrick Bamford summed the defeat up on Instagram.
Having suffered defeats to Wolves, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Leicester beforehand – Chelsea’s display was different. Leeds were equal to Wolves, and came close to upsetting Liverpool. Leicester and Palace hit Leeds on the counter attack – a way in which clearly Leeds struggle to cope against, though they were without star man Kalvin Phillips.
As aforementioned, the defeat to Chelsea was different. When teams face Leeds, fans are licking their lips at the gaps they leave in behind – but Chelsea were so good at putting Leeds to the sword and maintaining that pressure, that Leeds never had a chance to add to their early goal. Chelsea outran Leeds by six kilometres on Sunday evening, something which we would never have guessed.
Indeed, it was 11 kilometres more than Chelsea have ran in any of their previous matches this season – which is testament to the way Leeds play. But Chelsea’s work rate, attacking prowess and defensive stability lead by Thiago Silva competely undone Leeds – which frustrated Marcelo Bielsa on the sidelines, quite vividly. Nevertheless, Leeds will go again on Friday, when they take on West Ham United.
Both Meslier and Bamford posted on Instagram in the wake of the match. The duo were probably Leeds best players – Meslier producing numerous saves, denying the likes of Timo Werner on multiple occasions, including a glorious double stop late on. Bamford got his eighth goal of the season in 11 games, and helped out defensively too.