Chelsea fell to a 0-3 defeat to Leeds United

Thomas Tuchel’s side fell to a first defeat of the season at the hands of Leeds, the first time we have lost to the hosts in nine matches.

The Blues started brightly in Yorkshire, with chances falling to both Raheem Sterling and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, before the deadlock was broken by the home side, after an error by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

Chelsea gift-wrapped three points and three goals to the home side at Elland Road tonight, in a performance that will be overshadowed by the scoreline but is a monument to just how radically games can alter in only one instant.

Leeds started the game as predicted, pressing like crazy and sprinting around like their hair was on fire, but Chelsea should have taken the lead in the first minute when Sterling created a great opportunity but missed the target with his shot.

Following chances from Loftus-Cheek and Mount, Sterling had another good opportunity that he did not complete but which was correctly called out for offside.

Then, just after the halfway point, everything changed when Mendy made an error and sent the ball to Aaronson, who tapped it in from a yard away. Leeds promptly scored a second goal from a set piece in their only two minutes of genuine dominance, which can happen.

With a change in formation, Chelsea regrouped at halftime, but they failed to capitalize on three chances in rapid succession right after the restart, with Cucurella, Mount, and Gallagher joining the fray.

Leeds then added a third goal with their first shot of the second half because that is how these games are.

When Koulibaly received his second yellow late on, Chelsea’s agony was complete.

‘A really bad day. We started well in the first 15 or 20 minutes, then we got a bit frustrated from them scoring and we started doing stuff we weren’t supposed to. We got stuck. We conceded and then we lost our heads, which cannot happen here. We got punished,’ Jorginho said after the defeat.

“We knew it was coming [Leeds’ intensity and high press]. We were creating a lot and following the plan, at the end we were not finishing the plan and then we started doing different stuff.”

“We were playing some balls we don’t usually. If we had kept following the pan, and work our way out of pressure, maybe it would be a different story.”

“We always try to improve and to help each other to push even more, unfortunately yesterday we couldn’t do it.”

“We have to move on, always. These things can happen but it is about how we come back in the next game,” he added.

The Italian also offered some words of encouragement for the shot-stopper Edouard Mendy.

“Its not nice to see, especially a team-mate. Everyone has been there. He is strong and has a strong mentality. It’s time to move on.”

Aaronson: “We dreamed about it for a long time, it is a dream come true. It shows how much we’ve improved.”

On running more than Chelsea: “It shows you who wants it much. We were pumped up, the crowd were.”

Harrison: “We conducted a really good tactical plan from Jesse. We knew we had to be ruthless and the whole team were.”
“We set the tone today and we have to try and implement this performance this week. We know it will be hard.”