Chelsea will be looking to quickly move on from a dreadful week when they welcome Leeds United to Stamford Bridge on Saturday for the Premier League matchday 16 with kickoff at 18:00.
Chelsea have made a strong campaign this season as the capital club have claimed 10 wins in their 15 matches, drawing three while suffering defeat twice in the process and currently occupy the third spot on 33 points two and one point behind Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.
However, Chelsea have been going through a rough time recently with the Champions League winners claiming just one win in their last four matches across all competitions, a run that has seen the Blues drop to the third sport in the Premier League while failing to win Group H of the Champions League following a 3-3 draw against Zenit St Petersburg on the final day of the group stage.
Chelsea took the lead twice in the thriller but Zenit pegged them back in both occasions eventually forcing Chelsea to settle for the draw that saw them drop to the second place in the group. The result meant that Chelsea have now conceded three goals in each of their last two matches as they were coming off a 3-2 defeat to West Ham in the capital last weekend in the Premier League.
In that match Thomas Tuchel’s side also took the lead twice through Thiago Silva and Mason Mount but was pegged back both times before conceding the winner three minutes to time. The dreadful period was brought about by their uncharacteristic errors at the back that have seen seem unable to hold to leads and have conceded eight goals from their last four matches across competitions. Tuchel therefore will be hoping that his side can put to bed the dreadful run as they look to keep up the pace in the title chase.
Meanwhile Leeds have had a tough campaign this season winning just three of their 15 league matches while picking up seven draws and five defeats in the process. They have spent most of the campaign languishing in the bottom half and currently occupy the 15th spot on 16 points, four points outside the top half and six points above the relegation zone.
However, Michael Bielsa’s side have been attempting to build momentum in the recent weeks as they have only lost one of their last seven Premier League matches, but although they aren’t losing much Leeds have been draw specialists picking up four draws in the run and are coming off a 2-2 draw against Brentford thanks to last-minute heroics of the returned Patrick Bamford, who came in in the second half to rescue a point at Elland Road.
Bielsa’s side need to work on their defence if there are to pull some sort of upset here or a draw as the side has been looking vulnerable at the back and have kept just one clean sheet in their last seven away matches.
The hosts though will be looking to explore Leeds weakness at the back and will fancy their chances here as the last time these two met at Stamford Bridge the Blues won 3-1 on the day and Leeds tend to fold when facing big clubs and have already suffered 5-1 to Manchester United.
Chelsea vs Leeds head to head
Both sides have met in 25 meeting since 1993 with Chelsea claiming nine wins while Leeds have claimed eight wins and there have been eight draws.
- Leeds 0-0 Chelsea 13/03/21
- Chelsea 3-1 Leeds 05/12/20
- Leeds 1-5 Chelsea 19/12/12
- Chelsea 1-0 Leeds 15/05/04
- Leeds 1-1 Chelsea 06/12/03
Home
- St Petersburg 3-3 Chelsea
- West Ham 3-2 Chelsea
- Watford 1-3 Chelsea
- Chelsea 1-1 Man United
- Chelsea 4-0 Juventus
Away
- Leeds 2-2 Brentford
- Leeds 1-0 Palace
- Brighton 0-0 Leeds
- Tottenham 2-1 Leeds
- Leeds 1-1 Leicester
Chelsea team news
Chelsea will be without Ben Chilwell, N’Golo Kante and Trevoh Chalobah due to injuries while Mateo Kovacic will out after testing positive for Covid-19.
Leeds team news
Leeds will be without Liam Cooper, Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford due to thigh injurie sustain in the Brentford match. Aslo, Rodrigo has been ruled out due to heel problem and Robin Koch will aslo be out due to illness.
Prediction and odds
- Chelsea win
- Both sides to score (no)
- Goals over 2.5
