Leeds United put in a stunning display at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon against Chelsea in the Premier League, to clinched a more than deserved three points in the sunshine.
The crowd were electric throughout the match and none more so in the moments of celebration, as they saw goals from Brenden Aaronson, Rodrigo and Jack Harrison to continue the unbeaten start to the 2022/23 campaign.
On 33 minutes, Elland Road erupted as Leeds took the lead. Chelsea’s ‘keeper, Mendy had plenty of time to deal with the ball at the back but Aaronson pressed and forced him into a mistake, before stealing the ball and then firing home to put Leeds ahead.
Just four minutes later, one became two, and the noise could truly be heard from West Yorkshire to West London as Elland Road celebrated again.Jack Harrison whipped a free-kick into the box and at the front-post, Rodrigo was there to flick a header into the far corner to get his fourth of the season.
The second half got underway as both teams emerged from the tunnel unchanged. Marsch’s side had a two-goal lead which had been well earned from the first 45 minutes, but they wouldn’t sit back and look to protect it.
Opportunities were coming on the break for Leeds, with Dan James using his blistering pace to break down the wing. His back-post cross was timed perfectly for Rodrigo, but the Spaniard was denied a second of the game by a Chelsea block.
In what had been an entertaining match full of chances, Chelsea went close once again. Conor Gallagher created space for himself to shoot left-footed in the box, and via a deflection, his effort went just past the past the post.
Marsch made his first change of the game on the hour mark. Adam Forshaw came on for the hard-working Roca in a straight swap at the heart of the midfield, with 30 minutes remaining. Chelsea’s response was to bring on Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech.
Meslier was forced into action with 25 minutes to go, pulling off two much-needed and excellent saves in the space of 30 seconds. Reece James thundered an effort at goal which the ‘keeper did well to tip wide of the post, before then saving Koulibaly’s header from the following corner.
Having responded well to the Chelsea pressure, Leeds raced up the other end and scored a superbly worked third goal.James had used his pace to break free before crossing into the box and finding Rodrigo, who teed the ball up for Harrison to fire home at close range.
The vast majority of the 36,372 strong crowd inside Elland Road were left to sing and celebrate in the final few minutes, as Leeds United secured an excellent and thoroughly deserved three points in the Yorkshire sun.
After the match Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel said ,”We created enough chances and half chances to be 1-0 or 2-0 up and then we lost the discipline, we lost the repetition in doing what we wanted to do and what we did okay in the first 20 minutes.”
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