Chelsea welcome Leeds United to Stamford Bridge as Thomas Tuchel’s Blues continue their title chase, whilst Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites fight for survival.
Should Man City and Liverpool slip up elsewhere, victory would return Chelsea to the Premier League summit.
Leeds can go as high as tenth with a win if results elsewhere swing in their favour.
Team News
Jorginho is a doubt for Chelsea after missing the Blues’ 3-3 Champions League draw at Zenit on Wednesday evening.
Rubens Loftus-Cheek (knock) is another doubt but Mateo Kovacic (Coronavirus/hamstring), Ben Chilwell, N’Golo Kante (both knee) and Trevoh Chalobah (hamstring) are ruled out.
Leeds could welcome Pascal Struijk back from a hip injury which forced him to miss their draw against Brentford last weekend.
Robin Koch has recovered from a groin injury but is now sidelined through illness until next weekend.
Liam Cooper, Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford (all hamstring) and Rodrigo (heel) are ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea are unbeaten in their last five Premier League meetings against Leeds (W3, D2).
- Leeds have won just two of their last 13 visits to Stamford Bridge (W2, D4, L7).
- Across both league meetings last season, Chelsea kept two disciplinary clean sheets whilst Leeds had five individual players booked in total with four yellow cards shown after 70th minute.
- Kai Havertz has been caught offside in the Premier League more times than any other Chelsea player, having been offside on eight occasions in 13 appearances.
- All six of Raphinha’s league goals for Leeds this season have been scored on the Brazilian’s left foot.
Prediction
Having delivered strong attacking performances in their last two matches, Chelsea’s defence do seem to be the biggest worry with six goals conceded across both matches and poor intensity to closing down gaps.
Leeds meanwhile have begun to find form with just one defeat in their last seven games but were sluggish against Brentford last weekend, until a clinical opener sparked intensity but injuries do seem to still be an issue so Bielsa might need to experiment with his style of play soon.
This match though is Chelsea’s to lose because they are dangerous on the attack but if their defence holds up, whilst Leeds make another sluggish start and need a goal to spark their intensity then I can see a routine home win coming.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Leeds
Result: Chelsea 3-2 Leeds