Leeds United suffer at hands of ruthless Chelsea as relegation worries deepen - YEP 11/5/22
Leeds United were defeated by three goals to nil at home to Chelsea as the Whites failed to climb out of the relegation zone
By Joe Donnohue
Jesse Marsch sprung a team news surprise on Wednesday
evening, naming four changes to Leeds' starting XI.
There was no room for Joe Gelhardt, Mateusz Klich, Junior
Firpo or the suspended Luke Ayling.
Instead, the quartet that had started away to Arsenal last
weekend were replaced by Pascal Struijk, Lewis Bate, Daniel James and captain
Liam Cooper.
Elland Road sung defiantly ahead of kick-off and as Anthony
Taylor's whistle blew, 'Marching On Together' was still ringing in the ears.
The crowd was silenced, though, just three minutes and
twenty-three seconds into the contest as Reece James galloped beyond Leeds'
midfield line and cut back for Mason Mount whose run from deep had not been
tracked.
Mount's side-footed effort nestled in the top right-hand
corner and Elland Road was subdued for a time.
Their pre-match defiance soon turned volcanic as Leeds
showed signs of life, but inside the opening 15 minutes, any semblance of
creativity in Chelsea's half proved all too fleeting.
If the result had not already been decided by Leeds'
attacking anonymity during the opening exchanges, the pendulum swung against
them in the 24th minute of the game when Daniel James saw red.
The Welsh winger dived in on Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic, razing
the Croatian to the ground. Anthony Taylor calmly reached for his breast pocket
and brandished the red card, much to Elland Road's disgust.
Replays showed the official was more than justified in his
decision to expel the diminutive forward. Shortly thereafter, Kovacic was
withdrawn, appearing to feel the effects of James' high challenge.
Romelu Lukaku's chip on Illan Meslier towards the end of the
first half found the back of the net, only for the assistant referee to raise
his flag after the fact, much to the annoyance of Diego Llorente.
The second half brought little reprieve to Leeds' misery.
Nine minutes after the restart, Christian Pulisic was found in space on the
edge of Illan Meslier's penalty area, supplied by the clever flick of opening
goalscorer Mason Mount.
Jesse Marsch's countryman swept the ball onto his left foot
and guided it into the bottom corner to double the Londoners' advantage.
As the second half wore on, a third goal for the visitors
became a formality. They did not attack with the same menace as other top sides
to have visited Elland Road, but Leeds' lack of cohesion in Chelsea's half
meant one-way traffic and further concessions an inevitability.
Romelu Lukaku delivered the third blow, shortly after
Llorente had been dispossessed cheaply in his own half. A pass into the area
from Hakim Ziyech found the Belgian forward whose shimmying side-to-side was
enough to buy a yard and fire beyond Meslier, along with several white shirts
strewn across the box.
Despite the scoreline, Elland Road remained defiant and
vocal until the very last. Some took to the exits with Lukaku's finish but the
majority remained in their seats, or standing.
With two matches remaining this season, it is Leeds who are
still standing, but a performance akin to Wednesday evening's this coming
Sunday against Brighton, and that may well change.
