Chelsea 3-2 Leeds Utd Match Thread

[Ellandback1]

Saturday 11th December 3:00pm | Stamford Bridge


Leeds face a torrid Christmas calendar, starting with a trip to Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternnon. Whilst Bielsa's men rarely pick up too many points in the Capital, their task is made even harder by their ever-growing injury list. Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips are long term absentees, Rodrigo and Bamford are managing injuries whilst Pascal Struijk is still struggling with his hip. Teen sensation Charlie Cresswell would be a perfect replacement for the Leeds skipper, however Bielsa is more likely to draft Luke Ayling to centre back (to partner Llorente), with Dallas possibly switching to right back.

Kalvin Phillips will be a major loss in the holding role. Leeds have only won twice, out of twelve attempts without the England talisman in the starting line up. Fortunately, Adam Forshaw is a like for like replacement, so at Least Leeds won't lose their shape. But who will fill the other midfield roles with Rodrigo out and Dallas potentially having to cover at right back? Could Joe Gelhardt get a start up front with Tyler Roberts, on a high after his first goal of the season, dropping into midfield.





Fresh from their 3-3 draw at Zenit Saint Petersburg on Wednesday evening, Chelsea have no new injury concerns but they are without Mateo Kovacic, who tested positive for Covid-19 this week. They'll be looking to get back to winning ways after losing to a last gasp winner at local rivals West Ham last weekend, and were leap-frogged by Liverpool in the process. Trevoh Chalobah (hamstring), N'Golo Kante (knee) and Jorginho (back) are rated as doubtful, but £90m rated Romelu Lakaku is set to start against the Whites having returned midweek from a three month lay off. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is available.

Leeds have won one just one of the past 10 meetings in all competitions. They have lost four consecutive Premier League away fixtures against Chelsea. Chelsea could draw three Premier League home matches in a row for the first time since 2016. They are in danger of losing consecutive league fixtures for the first time under Thomas Tuchel. Leeds have only lost once in seven Premier League matches. However, they have suffered nine defeats in their past 10 Premier League fixtures in London. Since the beginning of last season, Leeds have lost nine of their 12 Premier League games (75%) without Kalvin Phillips, compared to just 11 defeats in 41 (27%) when he plays.



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[1964white]

Starting line-up I'd go with:

...................................Meslier............................

Ayling..........Llorente.........Struijk...........Firpo

...................Forshaw...........Dallas.....................

Raphinha.................Gelhardt..................James

..................................Roberts..............................

Our best CB pairing without any doubt last season
Dallas assisting AF to protect our defence
Ayling where he should be.
Gelhardt playing as a No.10
Roberts as a striker.

No fannying about playing our players all over the place!

[Lumiukko]

Starting line-up I'd go with:

...................................Meslier............................

Ayling..........Llorente.........Struijk...........Firpo

...................Forshaw...........Dallas.....................

Raphinha.................Gelhardt..................James

..................................Roberts..............................

Our best CB pairing without any doubt last season
Dallas assisting AF to protect our defence
Ayling where he should be.
Gelhardt playing as a No.10
Roberts as a striker.

No fannying about playing our players all over the place!

Not a bad lineup and I'd be happy with that. Not sure Struijk will be fully fit however, so in light of that would have to opt for Cresswell. Bit of a baptism of fire if he has to play Chelsea, Man City, and Liverpool, but it'd put hairs on his chest for sure.

Of course MB will clearly surprise us all (or not ), and I wouldn't be surprised to see Dallas at RB, Ayling CB, and Shacks/Klich with Forshaw.

[Chilli D]

Starting line-up I'd go with:

...................................Meslier............................

Ayling..........Llorente.........Struijk...........Firpo

...................Forshaw...........Dallas.....................

Raphinha.................Gelhardt..................James

..................................Roberts..............................

Our best CB pairing without any doubt last season
Dallas assisting AF to protect our defence
Ayling where he should be.
Gelhardt playing as a No.10
Roberts as a striker.

No fannying about playing our players all over the place!

I'd be happy with that line up but there's zero chance Gelhardt will start.

[rab_rant]

With all the injuries i stil trust Bielsa to pick a team that will compete. Things could be worse... mustn't grumble.

Leeds Santa picks his team.

[1964white]

We seem to have played certain teams at the wrong time this season, however it may not be the case in tomorrow's clash with Chelsea.

I know we have big players missing, but Chelsea also have injury/covid problems too with Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell & Kovacic all doubtful.

Also, Chelsea have conceded eight goals in their last four games

Prior to those four games, Chelsea had conceded only eight goals in their last twenty matches.

Come on Leeds

[Overman]

We seem to have played certain teams at the wrong time this season, however it may not be the case in tomorrow's clash with Chelsea.

I know we have big players missing, but Chelsea also have injury/covid problems too with Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell & Kovacic all doubtful.

Also, Chelsea have conceded eight goals in their last four games

Prior to those four games, Chelsea had conceded only eight goals in their last twenty matches.

Come on Leeds

Yet Chelsea could still field 3 quality sides with the depth and quality that they have.

[Chilli D]

We seem to have played certain teams at the wrong time this season, however it may not be the case in tomorrow's clash with Chelsea.

I know we have big players missing, but Chelsea also have injury/covid problems too with Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell & Kovacic all doubtful.

Also, Chelsea have conceded eight goals in their last four games

Prior to those four games, Chelsea had conceded only eight goals in their last twenty matches.

Come on Leeds

Unfortunately Lukaku is back from injury and could bully our defenders with his strength.

[Overman]

With all the injuries i stil trust Bielsa to pick a team that will compete. Things could be worse... mustn't grumble.

Leeds Santa picks his team.

I just want us to give a good of ourselves and not get smashed by the Chelsea scum. In a way the pressure is a less on us as we're not expected to get anything from the game. I will apply a Camus esq approach to our next few games 'live without hope and not to make any unrealistic demands' this has much more meaning.

[1964white]

Unfortunately Lukaku is back from injury and could bully our defenders with his strength.

That's why I think it's important Pascal is one of our CB's tomorrow Chilli, he is a big, strong lad.

[1964white]

Yet Chelsea could still field 3 quality sides with the depth and quality that they have.

All three top three clubs have depth & quality.

We are a million miles behind Chelsea, Citeh & Liverpool & will be for years to come unless something dramatically changes.

[Cjay]

MB needs to be flexible here (and in the next 4 games) we cant go toe to toe with pur injury problems (and cant really anyway) we must be more contained.

He will deserve no credit if we get battered because we are stupidly naive like we were vs Manure (who its since been shown were pretty poor)

Pack the midfield and play on the counter.

Also we must get something from our next 4 imo, 3 points at least.

Otherwise we will be played 19 with 16 points, i havent checked but i would imagine teams that get to the halfway mark with 16 points ( thats only 32 points a season) get relegated a lot.

I would also imagine that on the rare occasions they don't its because their were more than 3 teams at the half way mark with 16 points or less.

I bet the amount of times a team with 16 points or less at the half way stage is saved by a team that had more being relegated is rare.

Therefore we need to make sure we are at least averaging 1ppg at the half way stage, that is 19 points so we need 3 points from somewhere

[Leeds1000]

Starting line-up I'd go with:

...................................Meslier............................

Ayling..........Llorente.........Struijk...........Firpo

...................Forshaw...........Dallas.....................

Raphinha.................Gelhardt..................James

..................................Roberts..............................

Our best CB pairing without any doubt last season
Dallas assisting AF to protect our defence
Ayling where he should be.
Gelhardt playing as a No.10
Roberts as a striker.

No fannying about playing our players all over the place!

Like it. I do think Joffy & Roberts could work the Chelski back line with their youth and exuberance. Joffy is so raw he could pull something out of the bag. Time for Firpo to step into the light. That's the only alternative i can think of. Dallas instead of Firpo with Cresswell stepping in and Struijk pushing up with Forshaw. Lets put our faith in Firpo instead tho.

[WestgateRun]

Any points we get tomorrow will be an unexpected bonus.
Let some of the younger squad players have a go, I say.

[1964white]

Tuchel on Bielsa's Leeds:

"We made changes for Zenit because this game will be high intensity. His teams do not stop until they are in the shower after the game and we need to be ready for that."

[White Riot]

We seem to have played certain teams at the wrong time this season, however it may not be the case in tomorrow's clash with Chelsea.

I know we have big players missing, but Chelsea also have injury/covid problems too with Kante, Jorginho, Chilwell & Kovacic all doubtful.

Also, Chelsea have conceded eight goals in their last four games

Prior to those four games, Chelsea had conceded only eight goals in their last twenty matches.

Come on Leeds

Chelsea had a lot of flow to their play while Chilwell, who was in tremendous form, was playing.

Their left with Alonso and his lack of pace and positioning can be exploited by Raphinha, but MB will probably tell them to plough down the right and just have Jack n Jill tap the ball to each other.

Rudiger could easily see red if he gets embarrassed by Raphinha.

[White Riot]

Tuchel on Bielsa's Leeds:

"We made changes for Zenit because this game will be high intensity. His teams do not stop until they are in the shower after the game and we need to be ready for that."

He likely hasn't watched us this season

[White Riot]

Any points we get tomorrow will be an unexpected bonus.
Let some of the younger squad players have a go, I say.

Yeah, me too mate, nowt to lose.

I'd go with:

Meslier
Ayling
Llorente
Struijk (or Cresswell who was superb against Antonio and Hammers)
Firpo
Forshaw
Dallas
Bate
Raphinha
Gelhardt (fair enough Tyro probably deserves to keep his starting spot, but needs to produce to keep it)
James

Expect Bielsa will go with:
Meslier
Dallas
Ayling
Llorente
Firpo
Forshaw
Struijk
The ghost of Klich
Raphinha
Tyro
James

With Harrison, Shackleton and Rodrigo coming as subs, and if that's the case we're up for a slaughtering.

[White Riot]

Like it. I do think Joffy & Roberts could work the Chelski back line with their youth and exuberance. Joffy is so raw he could pull something out of the bag. Time for Firpo to step into the light. That's the only alternative i can think of. Dallas instead of Firpo with Cresswell stepping in and Struijk pushing up with Forshaw. Lets put our faith in Firpo instead tho.

Firpo's the only left back in the squad and we paid some wedge for him, so need to be patient and stick with him, or we'll be calling on him in an hour of desperation, as we did with Izzy Brown against Derby. Miracles don't happen btw.

I still think we need midfield creativity, so with a busy period coming up let's give Bate a go in there, can't do any worse than Harrison and Klich at the moment.

I'll make a prediction that if we don't give a Bate a go, and fail to get Swift, or another ACM in January, we'll be in this relegation battle until the death, and could still go down.

Need to shake things up. This First Half United stuff ain't succeeding.

[Byebyegeegee]

A game in the sh#thole that is London and Phillips out, I don’t give us much chance today - but it’s a funny old game so you never know!

Come on Leeds