Leeds vs Chelsea

[ZAPHOD2319 4,847]

Pre/Post Match Discussion, Live Chat & Analysis

Wednseday

Dec 3rd, 2025
Elland Road
8:15 PM UK

[Fulham Broadway 17,482]

Sanchez; Gusto, Tosin, Chalobah, Cucurella; Santos, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Garnacho; Delap

[Special Juan 28,304]

Sanchez, Gusto, Trev, Fofana, Cucu, James, Santos, Enzo, Neto, Estevao, Pedro

[Vesper 30,512]

41 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Sanchez, Gusto, Trev, Fofana, Cucu, James, Santos, Enzo, Neto, Estevao, Pedro

I thought Maresca said Reece is not going to play, as he needs to rest him due to load management.

[mkh 647]

Enzo Maresca on Dário Essugo:

“Essugo is not available for the next THREE games. We need to check him, as he had a setback yesterday.

“Unfortunately, it was just yesterday, so I don’t know how serious it is.” 

(@LloydCanfield)

[Special Juan 28,304]

Essugo has got Lavia disease

[Blue Armour 4,557]

Acheampong should come in for Fofana, who I think might be rested.

Santos in for James. Gusto at RB. Joao Pedro off the bench. Garnacho starting.

Doubt Acheampong will get a start though, with Tosin there in the squad.

[Vesper 30,512]

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca believes young defender Josh Acheampong could provide some cover in midfield if needed amid Moises Caicedo's suspension.

https://www.si.com/onsi/soccer/Chelsea/news/maresca-considering-playing-centre-back-in-Chelsea-midfield-amid-caicedo-suspension-01kbfa4kj4qf

Caicedo received a straight red card in the first half against Arsenal on Sunday, which means he will have to serve a three-match suspension in the Premier League.

He will miss Wednesday's trip to Leeds United, Saturday's trip to Bournemouth, as well as the upcoming clash with Everton at Stamford Bridge on December 13.

The Ecuador international has missed just one of Chelsea's 13 Premier League games so far this season, and it is clear that his absence is a huge blow for the team.

"For sure, again, we are a better team with Cole (Palmer), with Moi, with Levi (Colwill), but when these players are not available, we need to find solutions," Maresca said in Tuesday's press conference.

"Now we need to do something different."

The most obvious replacement would be Andrey Santos, who performed really well as a number six in Caicedo's only Premier League absence against Burnley in November.

Interestingly, Maresca has also named versatile defender Acheampong among his options.

"Andrey is ready. His position is playing as a No.6, like Moi, but he is ready," he added when asked about Santos.

"(Another) one that can play good in that position is Josh, but we will see."

Obviously, Reece James, whose performance in midfield in the draw with Arsenal deservedly earned him a lot of praise, can also be an option, and so can fellow right-back Malo Gusto.

Meanwhile, Maresca also confirmed that other natural number sixes, Romeo Lavia and Dario Essugo, are at different stages of their recoveries.

"Romeo is still trying to recover," the Italian explained.

"Dario, he was okay and started some sessions with us. Now he needs to slow down a little bit so he will be out again, hopefully nothing important. The rest are all fine."

[NikkiCFC 8,459]

We just had two big games and Garnacho - Pedro was the only change. 10 other players started both games. So, because of this I definitely expect rotation. Guys like Delap, Palmer, Gittens, Santos, Tosin, Acheampong can easily start here. 

Btw completely forgot about Buonanotte. Didn't play in a month, usually not even on the bench. And this was with Palmer out who is back now. 

[Strike 7,612]

21 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

We just had two big games and Garnacho - Pedro was the only change. 10 other players started both games. So, because of this I definitely expect rotation. Guys like Delap, Palmer, Gittens, Santos, Tosin, Acheampong can easily start here. 

Btw completely forgot about Buonanotte. Didn't play in a month, usually not even on the bench. And this was with Palmer out who is back now. 

Rather than rotate the first XI I would take some of the starters off in the 2nd half. 

Santos and Enzo - a new midfield is certain. Wouldn't want to change up too much from the main team

[Special Juan 28,304]

This is one of the typical fixtures where the atmosphere can kill us off and where I find us struggling to manage games like this, such as Newcastle, Leeds etc and how naive we are at times. Get on the ball, take the sting out of the atmosphere hopefully grab a goal to mute the noise even more and take the game to them

 

[Vesper 30,512]

Why do Leeds and Chelsea hate each other?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6855235/2025/12/03/leeds-Chelsea-rivalry-hatred/

Leeds United host Chelsea in the Premier League on Wednesday night — marking a return of one of the most historic rivalries for both teams.

The Elland Road side have spent the last two seasons in the Championship following relegation. While Leeds and Chelsea shared the same division between 2020 and 2023, the former also spent the previous 16 years outside of the top flight. They even fell as low as League One at one stage. During that time, they only played once in any competition.

But it is fair to say that the fans of these two clubs seriously dislike each other. At times, it strays into hatred.

Why? The answer goes back nearly 60 years. The Athletic’s Beren Cross — with help from Leeds fan Gareth Senior — and Simon Johnson explain below.

---

Where did the rivalry begin for Leeds fans?

Beren Cross: The misconception for some, at least from the Leeds perspective, is that this rivalry began with the 1970 FA Cup final, but it started before then in West Yorkshire eyes. Chelsea beat Leeds 1-0 in the 1967 FA Cup semi-final played at Villa Park in controversial circumstances.

United were twice denied an equaliser in the final seven minutes by referee Ken Burns, but it was the second from substitute Peter Lorimer which was too much for the Leeds fans. Terry Cooper’s strike was ruled offside, but a free kick passed to Lorimer was lashed home, only to be ruled out because the Chelsea wall had not been 10 yards back.

The 1970 final only added to the growing bitterness. There was the dreadful pitch at Wembley, Gary Sprake’s struggles in goal, Eddie Gray’s wizardry, but then, in the replay at Old Trafford, the early injury to Gray and a tussle which Michael Oliver, the Premier League’s leading referee, told The Telegraph would have resulted in 11 red cards under today’s rules.

Gareth Senior, a Leeds season-ticket holder since 1987, told The Athletic: “There was always that, through the late 1960s into the early 1970s, King’s Road vs the grim north.

“There was the money, the lights, but (all the newspapers were based on) Fleet Street in the 1970s, so it was all London-centric. Arsenal, West Ham, Chelsea, Tottenham got all the headlines.”

A tackle during the tense 1970 FA Cup finalPeter Robinson/EMPICS via Getty Images

---

Was it the same for Chelsea fans?

Simon Johnson: Yes. Older supporters still talk about the intensity of these fixtures between the supporters as well as the players. Like any rivalry, playing high-profile fixtures where trophies were at stake helped increase the animosity. The 1970 FA Cup final just brought things to a head.

But this was more than just football. This encapsulated the north-south divide in England, with Chelsea being seen as flashy and glamorous given their proximity to the King’s Road in London, whereas Leeds matched their quality with a lot of determination and fight, quite literally at times.

---

How did it develop after the Cup final?

Cross: Senior said it spilt onto the terraces in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There was hostility and violence between the two fanbases as hooliganism exploded across English football.

The two clubs only met six times across the 1980s, and all meetings were in the second tier as they struggled to establish themselves at the top of the domestic game. In October 1982, for example, with Leeds in the capital to play at Stamford Bridge, there was what Senior says is known as the ‘Battle of Piccadilly’.

The police made 153 arrests that day away from Stamford Bridge, as supporters from both clubs clashed in and around Piccadilly Circus. They clashed underground on the Tube network, too. A further 60 arrests were made at the game itself.

In 1984, Chelsea owner Ken Bates said one of his most infamous quotes. After Leeds fans damaged his new scoreboard at Stamford Bridge, the future Elland Road owner said: “I shall not rest until Leeds United are kicked out of the Football League. Their fans are the scum of the Earth, absolute animals and a disgrace. I will do everything in my power to make this happen.”

Bates would go on to buy a 50 per cent share of Leeds in 2005.

Johnson: Chelsea won just two more fixtures against in the decade after the 1970 cup final, a reflection of their decline.

But high-profile incidents in games during the 1980s (see below) and 1990s sparked things up again.

Becoming rivals for a Champions League place in the late 1990s led to some really lively affairs. In December 1997, there were eight bookings, and Leeds had two players sent off in a goalless draw. The following year, there were 12 bookings and this time a red card for Chelsea defender Frank Leboeuf in another 0-0. The same player was sent off when Leeds won 2-0 at Chelsea in 1999, with the home fans making their displeasure known throughout.

In a first cup meeting since 1970, Chelsea won a 2001 League Cup tie in controversial circumstances as Eidur Gudjohnsen scored one of their two goals while Stephen McPhail was on the ground, injured. Graeme Le Saux was carried off on a stretcher in that match after a collision with Alan Smith.

---

Were there any flashpoints for Leeds fans in subsequent years?

Cross: In 2001, Senior recalls a lunging, two-footed challenge by Graeme Le Saux on Danny Mills at Elland Road, which saw him get a yellow, but he says it would get “two red cards” nowadays.

---

And how about for Chelsea fans?

Simon Johnson: One of the reasons Chelsea erected wire fences around Stamford Bridge in the 1970s came after a lot of crowd trouble and pitch invasions following a game between the sides in 1972.

A decade later, having had a four-year gap between matches, clashes between the fans led to a total of 213 arrests around the fixture.

When Chelsea beat Leeds 5-0 to secure promotion from the old Division Two (now the Championship) in 1984, there were more pitch invasions, and Leeds damaged the Chelsea scoreboard, attracting Bates’ fury.

---

How was the rivalry perceived by Leeds fans while they were outside of the Premier League?

Cross: Senior believes the rivalry is driven more by the Leeds side now.

“For people my age, a little bit younger and a bit older, that sort of thing never disappears because it’s ingrained during your days as a younger lad, growing up,” he said. “You’ve got Chelsea, Millwall, Man United, a little bit of West Ham, but there’s also a bit of begrudging respect there.

“You’ve got those sort of main rivalries, but it doesn’t go away from you, and you still see it as a rivalry because you always think you’re on a little vacation away from the top flight.”

---

Chelsea were very successful after Leeds were relegated. Did it diminish as a rivalry?

Johnson: To a degree. It helped the rivalry that there was a League Cup tie in 2012 to refresh everybody’s memories. Even though the unpopular Rafa Benitez was Chelsea’s head coach back then, the away support enjoyed a 5-1 victory at Elland Road.

In contrast, one of Thomas Tuchel’s last games in charge was a 3-0 league defeat at Elland Road in 2022, which stung a fanbase that expected an easy three points.

The question is whether the younger supporter, unaccustomed to this fixture being played on a regular basis, sees Leeds in the same way the older generation does.

Chelsea have two traditional rivalries that are regardless of league standing or position. One is Tottenham, the other is Leeds. But while anti-Tottenham songs are regularly sung by fans, you hardly ever hear anti-Leeds chants anymore. This might be a sign that the baton has not really been passed on to the younger generation, and also a reflection that a lack of games between each other over the last 20 years has had an impact.

The pitch invasion during the 1984 matchSapiano/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

---

How do Leeds fans view this game ahead of Wednesday’s match?

Cross: “If you’d have asked me at half-time on Saturday, I’d have said we’re in for the biggest loss at home for a long time, and we get done by four or five,” said Senior.

“If Farke sticks to the formation they finished the game with and sticks to pretty much the same personnel, I’d like to see a different player rather than two big No 9s playing, a (Wilfried) Gnonto or an (Noah) Okafor in a front two with one of the others, a point would be brilliant.”

---

And what about Chelsea fans?

Johnson: There is a lot of optimism given how Chelsea have performed against Barcelona and Arsenal in the past week.

Things do seem to be progressing well under Enzo Maresca, but this is an important game for Chelsea to win to keep in touch with Arsenal at the top of the table and also cement their standing inside the top four.

Losing this match would probably bring back a lot of the negativity we saw earlier in the campaign following defeats by Manchester United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Sunderland.

What You Should Read Next

Why Chelsea hate Leeds. And does it matter any more?

An old rivalry remains for many Chelsea fans. But after so many years of not playing Leeds, does it matter to a young fans?

By Beren Cross and Simon Johnson

[ahmedou 211]

🥶😇