Once again Leeds had a lot of play, especially in the second half, but our lack of firepower up front meant that Wesley Fofana’s 53rd minute header was enough to win the game for Chelsea.
Javi made two changes for this game, one of them being enforced due to Bamford’s latest injury problem being that he ‘felt something in his leg’ earlier in the week. He should be back soon. The other saw Gnonto dropped to the bench after his recent struggles, so we started with two out and wingers on the flanks.
With Chelsea’s expensive squad being in such poor form coming into this game I was quite optimistic about this game, and though we might even drive the final nail into the coffin of Graham Potter’s spell in charge of our least favourite London club. But Chelsea were to dominate the first half hour at least and put us under severe pressure.
With Chilwell overlapping down their left flank and Summerville reluctant to track back and do his share of defending, they were able to outnumber us in that area of the field whenever they came forward. And there was an early warning of the danger Fofana would pose at set pieces when he headed just over the bar from a free kick.
Shortly afterwards Chelsea took possession deep in their own half and Sterling broke away at pace, before sending an excellent ball down the wing to put Havertz through on goal. But Meslier was quickly off his line, and was able to get his arm up in time to knock the ball behind for a corner. And Chelsea’s next chance also came with a breakaway after Leeds lost possession while going forward.
This time it was Sterling racing down the right, and he found Felix with an excellent cutback to the edge of the area. We were thankful that the shot crashed down off the underside of the bar. Then a through ball found Chilwell in plenty space, and he should have done better than sending his first-time shot well wide of the post.
It wasn’t until the closing stages of the half that Leeds managed to establish a foothold in the game. Aaronson had a shot blocked and then we had the obligatory Harrison free-kick over the bar after Summerville had been brought down just outside the box. And so the teams went in goalless at half time.
The second half began in the same fashion as the first, with Chelsea getting back on top. Fernandez took his turn to send a free kick over the bar, and a five man move ended with Sterling also sending the ball over the bar. But just as I started to hope that Chelsea would do a Leeds and fail to score while on top of the game, they took the lead from a 53rd minute corner.
Meslier started to come off his line but then changed his mind and stopped. Bofana got above our defence to meet the ball, and sent it looping up and over our keeper into the net. After the game Gracia bemoaned our lack of tall players to deal with the central defenders who came forward, which partly due to Bamford not being there to come back and help out.
From then we were to have more of the game in our efforts to get at least a point from the game, but once again our inability to take our chances meant that we weren’t to get the result that the quality of much of our play deserved. The first came from Tyler Adams, who has yet to score a goal for Leeds, but he was close to putting that right with a curling shot that went just past the post.
Then a deep cross from Harrison found Ayling on the far side of the area, and the full back chested the ball down before sending it low across the face of goal. Rutter was there to meet it, and might have scored if he hadn’t whacked it straight at the defender in front of him. That took the pace off the shot and made it easy for Kepa to complete the save.
On 68 minutes Javi made a double change to try to get back into the game. Aaronson had looked a bit lightweight once again, and Rutter is obviously not an out-and-out striker despite his other qualities. So young Joseph and Gnonto were sent into the fray, which meant that for a time Gnonto would operate in the central role that some fans think would suit him best.
That was until the 80th minute, when Greenwood replaced Harrison, so Gnonto was shuffled back into his usual wide left position. This final change did at least mean we would have better delivery from set pieces. Soon afterwards Greenwood sent a free kick into the area and Chelsea struggled to get the ball away. It came to Joseph on the edge of the area and he did well to work himself into space for a shot, but it lacked the power to trouble Kepa.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and just after four minutes injury time were announced Meslier went up for our final corner. Wöber met it and headed the ball down into Meslier’s path, giving him a very presentable chance to score. He hight have done if he’d directed his header towards the corner of the net, but he could only send it straight into Kepa’s arms.
And so we went down to yet another frustrating defeat, despite having had a good deal of the play, though at least we finished the day still outside the bottom three thanks to Arsenal’s injury time winner against Bournemouth. After the game Javi complained of our inability to make our possession count, but we have to find a way of getting our forward line to work.