By Sulaimon Jamiu
It was a disappointing outing for Chelsea and their fans at Elland Road on Sunday, as they suffered a heavy defeat to Leeds United, with much of the damage being done by two rapid first-half goals.
For spells the game wasn’t anywhere near as one-sided as the scoreline suggests, with the Blues going close to opening the scoring in the first half, although they struggled to contend with the opponents’ relentless high press throughout.
Raheem Sterling and Mason Mount were both unlucky not to give the visitors the lead, but then Leeds scored twice in the space of five minutes and from that moment on it was always going to be an uphill struggle for the away team to salvage anything from the game.
First Edouard Mendy was the victim of Leeds’ harrying, as he was dispossessed close to his goal by Brenden Aaronson, who promptly opened the scoring. Then, a soft free-kick awarded against Sterling was curled into the box, where Rodrigo was able to head in from the near post.
The Blues tried to strike back after the break with a change to a back four, and it briefly showed promise, but then Leeds’ third goal on the counter, turned in by Jack Harrison from close range, took the home side out of sight and knocked the last of the fight out of the Blues.
The feeling that the game was over was only exacerbated by the late sending off of Kalidou Koulibaly.
Following the 3-0 win, Leeds United now sit third on the Premier League table, two points behind Arsenal and Manchester City.
