Since they were promoted last season, many pundits have suggested that Marcelo Bielsa’s side are everybody’s second favourite team, though the premise is somewhat laughable for most Chelsea supporters.
That’s because the Elland Road outfit are, if anything, amongst Blues fans’ most despised teams – a rivalry stems from the late 1960s and early 1970s when tempers boiled over both on and off the pitch between the players and, indeed, supporters.
The 1970 FA Cup Final replay at Old Trafford – a game famously won after goals from Peter Osgood and David Webb secured a 2-1 win for Chelsea – is still regarded as one of the dirtiest matches ever recorded.
Had the match been played today, there is little doubt that both sides would have been reduced to seven or eight players each with the seats in the dugouts occupied by those who would have been sent off.
Chelsea’s last visit to Elland Road was in 2013 in a League Cup tie that followed the return from Tokyo and the World Club Cup and fter conceding a first-half goal, Chelsea stormed to a 5-1 victory with goals from Mata, Ivanovic, Moses, Hazard and Fernando Torres.
Chelsea’s biggest win against Leeds United came in 1935 when the visitors to Stamford Bridge were crushed 7-1, the Chelsea goals coming courtesy of Joe Bambrick with four, Dicky Spence with a brace and Harry Burgess who scored on his debut.
As for Chelsea’s last league visit to Elland Road, that was back in December 2003 when a goal from Damien Duff secured a point in a 1-1 draw.
Earlier this season in their meeting at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were the 3-1 winners in a game in which Olivier Giroud, Kurt Zouma and Christian Pulisic were on the score sheet for The Blues.
Although he is playing well, his goal-scoring touch still eludes him but, nevertheless, I’ll be backing Timo Werner to score at any time, the price being 2.70 with our friends at FansBet.
About the Author
Londoner David Johnstone is a home, away and European away Chelsea supporter and has missed just six matches since 2001 (although he’s quick to state there are plenty of other supporters with better attendance records than him).
He has been involved with the fanzine scene at Chelsea since around 1991 and started the ‘cfcuk’ fanzine in 1999 which was, until Mr Abramovich bought the club in 2003, named ‘Matthew Harding’s Blue And White Army’.
David was also responsible for forming both the Chelsea Supporters’ Group and the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust which are the main two bodies that represent the followers of Chelsea FC and take their concerns to those running the club.
A founder of the highly regarded Chelsea FanCast weekly podcast (but is no longer involved) and responsible for the crowd surfing banners and supporter displays that are seen in the Matthew Harding Stand at Stamford Bridge on matchday.
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