English Premier
2022-08-21 - Leeds United vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 21st August 2022 - Kick Off 2pm
This game is live on TV
Leeds United
Marcelo Bielsa had a big impact on the Leeds United fans as well as the players and his departure would have hurt many, even if it was the best thing for the club in order to try and avoid the drop. His replacement was Jesse Marsch amidst rumours he was going to take over in the summer anyway, but there have been some reports that all is not well at Elland Road.
Some of those feelings have been laid to rest thanks to the positive start Leeds United have made in the Premier League and the players are clearly on board with Marsch and his approach. After barely avoiding relegation last season, Leeds United have picked up 4 points to open this campaign and are up into 6th place in the early standings. Home form is going to be key to avoid any relegation dogfight this time around and Leeds United won their opening fixture at Elland Road a couple of weeks ago.
Leeds United have extended their unbeaten run to 4 Premier League games and they have picked up 8 points from a possible 12 in that time. They did only win 1 of their final 9 Premier League games at Elland Road last season so it was important for Leeds United to come from a goal behind and secure a victory against Wolves earlier this month. The side had lost 6 of those 9 home games before the win over Wolves.
Patrick Bamford picked up a knock last weekend and will need to be assessed ahead of this fixture. Liam Cooper is another hoping to return to the squad, but Luke Ayling and Junior Firpo are expected to miss out and may not return until next month.
Chelsea
There was plenty of action on the field and on the touchline in Chelsea's 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday, but the overriding feeling for the manager will be that two points were dropped. Thomas Tuchel did suggest that both Tottenham Hotspur goals should not have stood, but he will be looking for his players to play with a similar confidence they displayed last weekend and get back to winning ways.
Like their opponent in this fixture, Chelsea have picked up 4 points from their opening couple of Premier League fixtures, although they are 7th in the table on goal difference. Scoring more goals is the challenge for The Blues if they are going to close on the top two from last season and more signings made be made to aid the squad in that regard. The side won their only away game played in the Premier League at Everton on the opening weekend.
Chelsea had an inconsistent end to the previous season and Thomas Tuchel's squad has evolved somewhat in the summer. They are unbeaten in 6 Premier League games following the draw with Spurs last Sunday, but Chelsea have only won half of those fixtures. Most of the setbacks have surprisingly been at Stamford Bridge though and Chelsea have won 6 of their last 8 away League games.
Marcos Alonso is still hoping to leave the club this summer and won't be involved on Sunday. Both Mateo Kovacic and N'Golo Kante are expected to miss out.
Head to Head
Chelsea scored three times in both Premier League wins over Leeds United last season.
The fixture at Elland Road ended 0-3 in favour of The Blues who are now unbeaten in their last 4 visits to Leeds United in all competitions.
Prediction
The Romelu Lukaku experiment has to be seen as a failure at Stamford Bridge and the Belgian international has left to return to Inter Milan this summer.
Timo Werner is enough to depart for a former club where he had found his goal-scoring boots, but it does leave Chelsea with the same problem they have seemingly had for a couple of seasons.
Namely scoring enough goals.
It wasn't an issue in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, but there is still a feeling that a more composed number nine than Kai Havertz may have made the difference for them. Chelsea created some really good quality chances, but needed a centre back and a right wing back to score the goals and that is hard to expect every week.
A Penalty secured the win at Everton on the opening weekend in another game where Chelsea created some good openings, but could not find someone to take the chances created. It is a problem for Thomas Tuchel and may be the main reason Chelsea are not able to close the gap on the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool this season.
Creating chances should not be a problem against Leeds United who have allowed Wolves and Southampton to find good avenues towards their goal. Jesse Marsch will know that their relegation battle was largely down to the huge amount of goals Leeds United shipped last season and conceding to those first two opponents is a worry.
This weekend Leeds United will be facing a much stronger team than Wolves and Southampton, although the manager has to be happy with what he has seen from his team going forward. Losing Raphinha will have stung, but Leeds United have seen Rodrigo step up and this is a team that have been creating chances and will put opponents under pressure.
The win over Wolves will be a real boost for the players and the fans who had gotten used to seeing Leeds United being beaten in games at Elland Road towards the end of the last campaign. They actually lost 6 of their last 8 at Elland Road in the Premier League, but fighting back from a goal down to defeat Wolves will be confidence boosting.
However, this is a big step up and it was only in May that Chelsea left Elland Road with a deserved 0-3 win. On that day Mason Mount got things going early, but goalscorer Christian Pulisic and Lukaku will be unlikely to be involved (the former is being linked with a move away and Lukaku has moved back to Inter Milan as mentioned).
Chelsea did create decent openings in that win and managed to score three goals in the home win over Leeds United too. I do think they will have enough in the final third to break down a team giving up too many chances and the likes of Mount, Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz should have opportunities to get off the mark.
Leeds United will always be tough at home where the fans get right behind them, but they have lost plenty of games here over the calendar year and I think Chelsea will win a relatively high-scoring encounter.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Leeds United 0-2 Chelsea
