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Leeds produced arguably their performance of the Premier League season so far to inflict a rare defeat on Chelsea and perhaps alleviate some of the pressure engulfing Daniel Farke.
A run of four wins in succession had left speculation rife that Farke was entering a pivotal period if he wanted to keep his job at Elland Road, having guided the Whites to promotion last season. He and his team responded accordingly with a wonderful display filled with energy, aggression and quality to move out of the relegation zone.
Leeds were outstanding in the opening 45 minutes and deservedly led at the break through goals for Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka. Chelsea improved slightly after half-time but despite Pedro Neto making it 2-1, a horrendous defensive mix-up led to Dominic Calvert-Lewin sealing the win to ensure the visitors dropped to fourth, nine points off the leaders Arsenal.
With all the talk swirling around Farke’s future, you suspected he and Leeds needed a fast start to get the home crowd behind them. The manager opted to switch to a back three for the first time this season and those tweaks proved fruitful early on, as Leeds suffocated Chelsea inside the opening minutes before taking a deserved lead.
After Tanaka and Anton Stach had early efforts on the Chelsea goal, Leeds took their next opportunity as Stach’s pinpoint corner was superbly headed home by Bijol for his first Premier League goal. At that stage, it was no less than Leeds deserved and they would continue to push for more after breaking the deadlock.
They should have doubled their lead when set pieces again proved to be Chelsea’s undoing. Stach’s latest corner saw Pascal Struijk create space inside the box, but he could only send his free header wide of Robert Sánchez’s post.
It took the visitors until midway through the first half to even have an attempt on goal, but Estêvão Willian could only shoot wide under pressure from a Leeds defensive line that, at that stage, had adjusted well to the tactical changes implemented by Farke. Chelsea, in truth, looked like a side slightly jaded from their exploits against Arsenal a few days earlier.
Two minutes from the interval, Leeds took full advantage of an error in possession from the visitors to score again. Jayden Bogle was quickest to a loose ball and he teed up Tanaka, who superbly shot past Sánchez from outside the box to make it 2-0. It was a lead the hosts fully merited.
Maresca responded accordingly at half-time, with Neto and Malo Gusto coming on to try and inject some life. They could have gone three behind had Lukas Nmecha done better with a wonderful Bogle cross but five minutes later the Chelsea changes paid dividends as Neto fired home a looping Jamie Gittens ball across the box to halve the deficit.
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To Leeds’ credit, that setback did not dampen their spirit or go forward. They continued to press and thought they had re-established their two-goal lead, only for Nmecha’s fine strike to be ruled out when replays showed both he and Calvert-Lewin, who had led the line superbly, were both marginally offside.
Maresca shuffled the deck again, this time with Cole Palmer returning from injury for his first minutes since September. And as the game entered the final quarter Palmer was presented with a glorious opportunity to level the scores after finding space in the box, but he fired wide of Lucas Perri’s right post.
That miss would be costly. Three minutes later, Tosin Adarabioyo inexplicably lost possession to Noah Okafor inside his own box and in the ensuing scramble, Calvert-Lewin slotted into an empty net to secure a vital victory.
