Chelsea host Leeds United in the Premier League on Tuesday night, as they look to win a fifth consecutive league game under Liam Rosenior and take a stranglehold on their spot within the top five.
Chelsea come into this game after a comfortable win at Molineux against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, when a Cole Palmer hat-trick set them on their way to a 3-1 win.
After a draw and a loss in the previous two games, Leeds won on Friday night, as they convincingly beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 at Elland Road, to keep the gap between themselves and the relegation zone at six points.
Here’s everything you need to know about Tuesday evening’s game:
How to watch:
The match will be will be shown on TNT Sports 4 in the UK, NBC in the U.S., JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live updates.
Key Details:
Kick-off time: Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 7.30 p.m. GMT (2.30 p.m. ET; 1 a.m. IST and 6.30 a.m. AEDT, Wednesday)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, London
Referee: Rob Jones
VAR: John Brooks
Injury and Team News:
Chelsea:
Reece James, D: knock, DOUBT
Jamie Gittens, F: muscle, OUT
Romeo Lavia, M: thigh, OUT
Dário Essugo, M: muscle, OUT
Tosin Adarabioyo, D: thigh, OUT
Levi Colwill, D: ACL, OUT
Mykhailo Mudryk, F: suspended, OUT
Leeds United:
Anton Stach, M: hip, OUT
Talking Points:
The top four race is heating up, and Chelsea are on fire
Chelsea have four wins in a row in the Premier League, and are fifth right now, four points ahead of sixth-placed Liverpool. One might argue that these four were games that Chelsea should’ve always won — against Brentford at home, Crystal Palace away, West Ham United at home and Wolverhampton Wanderers away. But in the last few seasons, Chelsea’s problem has often been their inability to win games that they were supposed to win.
Chelsea have won them, and they’ve won them fairly convincingly. They’ve scored 11 goals in those four Premier League games, having Champions League wins against Napoli and Pafos in between, while also going out in the EFL Cup semifinal against Arsenal, despite putting in a fairly competent performances across both legs of the tie.
Chelsea will be looking for a fifth Premier League win in a row, and in front of their home crowd on Tuesday night, are definitely fairly big favourites to do so.
Leeds have a chance to do the double over Chelsea
In the reverse fixture a couple of months ago, Leeds put in a superb performance to beat Chelsea 3-1 in what turned out to be one of Enzo Maresca’s last games in charge of the club. Leeds were superb in that game, but also got gifted a goal by Tosin Adarabioyo that night. Chelsea had pulled a goal back early in the second half through Pedro Neto, and had some sort of momentum, having gone 2-0 down in the first half to goals from Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka. However, that gift from Tosin to Dominic Calvert-Lewin finished that game off as a contest.
Leeds will take some confidence from their most recent result — a 3-1 win against Nottingham Forest at Elland Road, as they head into this tough one at Stamford Bridge. If Leeds do manage to do the double against Chelsea, it could get them further clear of the relegation zone than the six points clear that they are right now, with West Ham United facing a tough home clash against Manchester United this week as well.
Rosenior’s consistent selection of the spine a key for Chelsea
Be it the goalkeeper, the centre-back pairing or the midfield pivot, or even the player in the No.10 position and up front, Rosenior has gone for consistency. Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana at centre-back, Moisés Caicedo and Andrey Santos in the midfield pivot, and João Pedro leading the line, with Enzo Fernández just behind him, Chelsea are only making changes in auxiliary positions to complement that spine. Of course, one of those other players is Palmer, who, with this solid spine, is getting the freedom to roam off the right wing, and have a big impact on games.
With games having come thick and fast since the start of January, and February not set to be much kinder on Chelsea players’ workloads, it remains to be seen how much, and how, Rosenior will rotate his pack. Of course, he might not be compelled to rotate much in this game, with an FA Cup trip to Hull City coming back this weekend, and the knowledge that the consistency in selection is what has given them the base for their Premier League form, which needs to continue.
Is Cole Palmer back?
Cole Palmer’s hat-trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers may not have been the toughest that he’s ever scored, but it was certainly a much-needed boost for him, after what has been a difficult season, that has also been marred by injury. Before that Wolves game, Palmer had scored just four Premier League goals all season, having missed 11 games in the league so far this season.
Now that he’s back fit and able to start games, Palmer needed confidence on the pitch as well, and there’s no better way to gain that than by scoring goals. The two penalties may have been just what Chelsea and Palmer needed to kickstart his season.
What do the numbers say?
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Chelsea are unbeaten in seven home games against Leeds in the Premier League, with the Blues also winning the last six home games against Leeds in a row.
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If Leeds win, it will be their first league double against Chelsea for the first time since the 1991-92 season, when they won the old first division, in the last season before the Premier League began.
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Charlton Athletic in 2000-01 are the only newly promoted Premier League side to have done the double against Chelsea, doing so in 2000-01.
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If Chelsea win, Liam Rosenior will become the first Chelsea manager to win his first three home games since Maurizio Sarri in 2018.
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Leeds United have won just two of their last 25 away Premier League matches.
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João Pedro has four direct goal involvements in his last four home games for Chelsea.