Leeds United 3 Chelsea 1: Whites are no respecter of reputations as Elland Road powers them to big win — Yorkshire Post 3/12/25

By Stuart Rayner

When the Premier League fixtures came out in June, Manchester City, Chelsea, then Liverpool looked a bit of a pre-Christmas write-off but there was one important factor which gave Leeds United a fighting chance – the final two games were at Elland Road.

Howard Wilkinson, the former Leeds manager inducted into the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame at half-time not least for beating Manchester United to the title in 1992, could have told his old club a thing or two about not respecting reputations but it soon became clear they had got that message loud and clear.

Strengthened by a change of formation, revitalised by road-testing it in a stirring comeback at Manchester City and roared on by a passionate crowd, Leeds claimed a deserved 3-1 win over Chelsea that put them back on the point-per-game benchmark and hauled them out of the relegation zone.

It might even have kept manager Daniel Farke in a job, which Wilkinson, the long-time chairman of the League Managers Association, will have been particularly pleased about.

Suddenly a visit from wobbling English champions Liverpool on Saturday looks a little less daunting.

When the world champions were able to throw on substitutes of the quality of Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer and Alejandro Garnacho, the men in white were not going to be able to win on their own and a boisterous 36,767 crowd set the tone 80 seconds in as they roared a Leeds press which won them a throw-in high up the field and continuing it with every thumping tackle, every attack.

Crucially, Farke also persevered with the 3-4-1-2 that has inspired an ultimately unsuccessful comeback from 2-0 at Manchester City, although the number of men Chelsea committed forward soon pushed it into a 5-3-2.

That, though, was partly because Leeds were in front.

They scored once and should have scored twice from early corners.

Twice early on long throw-ins were cleared out to the fit-again Anton Stach, whose shots hit defenders. The second went behind for a sixth-minute corner.

From it, Jaka Bijol – back in the side to allow the tactical rejig – made a strong run to the near post, an impressive jump and a powerful header into the net.

Pascal Struijk ought to have doubled the lead less than 10 minutes later after Chelsea's first attack of note broke down without a shot and the hosts countered. Struijk won his header from the corner they won, but got nowhere near a clean enough header.

For half an hour Leeds were pinned back, with Marc Cucurella abandoning all pretence of being a left-back to play as an inside-left but from 72 per cent of possession, Chelsea had fewer shots in the game and only one two target.

Their first deflected wide for a 27th-minute corner which Estevao – again – and Jamie Gittens had shots blocked from.

The Whites picked their visitors off on the counter-attack but three times Tanaka fluffed shots from distance.

Shortly after the third, Lukas Nmecha harassed Chelsea into giving the ball up, Jayden Bogle collected it and threaded a pass to the Japanese midfielder. This time his shot was unerring.

Importantly, Leeds followed the half-time introductions of Neto and Malo Gusto with intent of their own, Nmecha forcing a 48th-minute save from Robert Sanchez, and Calvert-Lewin shooting over with an overhead bicycle kick.

Chelsea soon burst the mood, Jamie Gittens pulling the ball back from the left byline and Neto calmly putting it in as defenders ran around frantically to no effect.

Former Hull City loanee Liam Delap soon shot into the side betting under pressure from Struijk.

Again the Leeds response was important and again it struck the right tone.

Nmecha had a 55th-minute goal chalked off when he and more importantly Calvert-Lewin had sloppily strayed offside from a Stach cross.

Nmecha helped out defensively then launched a ball Calvert-Lewin played the classic No 9 too, chesting it down for Bogle to run into the area before losing possession.

When Palmer put an excellent chance supllied by fellow substitute Garnacho wide, Leeds punished him fully.

They pushed Chelsea back in a sustained spell of pressure and when they arrogantly tried to play their way out of trouble Noah Okafor, recently introduced from the bench, tackled a dozing Tosin Adarabayo, and shot point-blank at Sanchez, spilling the ball up for a dream tap-in for Calvert-Lewin.

That left Leeds with 18 minutes to defend – 24 with stoppages added – but they made sure to do more than just that, Gabriel Gudmundsson played in too wide to hit the target and Okafor only shooting weakly at the covering Trevoh Chalobah when Calvert-Lewin dragged Sanchez out to the touchline.

If Josh Smith raising his board for six minutes set a few butterflies flapping, Enzo Fernandez's ballooned volley quickly after calmed them down a bit.

West Ham United can drop Leeds back into the bottom three on Thursday, but only if they win at Manchester United.