FORGET ‘Cole Palmer FC’, maybe Chelsea have evolved into ‘Moises Caicedo FC’.
Because even with the return of ice-cold Palmer, Enzo Maresca‘s side look as though they will be frozen out of the title race in December again, starting with defeat at Elland Road.
Caicedo, missing through suspension after a red card against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge last weekend, watched from home while his teammates struggled in West Yorkshire.
And with the Ecuadorian also set to miss games against Bournemouth and Everton, it looks as though the Blues’ title hopes may crumble without him.
That, then, may be the difference between league leaders Arsenal and this Chelsea side.
While the Gunners rested key players, and are still missing defensive duo William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, they were able to get a result at home to Brentford.
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The same couldn’t be said for Maresca’s men.
Without Caicedo and Reece James, the Blues looked disorganised, confused, and truthfully, utterly dismal.
Leeds is a tough place to come for Chelsea, having been beaten 3-0 in their last visit to Elland Road in 2022, with Reece James and Marc Cucurella the only survivors from what was a fateful campaign for Thomas Tuchel.
And last night left the home fans wishing they could play the Blues every week.
Leeds looked the better team from the off and took just five minutes to open the scoring through Jaka Bijol.
The Slovenian centre-half dispatched Anton Stach‘s corner with a powerful header after losing Liam Delap, who was rather lousy in marking his man.
Robert Sanchez should’ve done better than palming the ball into the side netting.
The home side could have doubled their lead ten minutes later, when Pascal Struijk escaped his man from another corner, only to watch his headed ball escape the forehead of the onrushing Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The first half had as much temper as you’d expect from what has evolved into a rivalry since the 1967 FA Cup semi-final.
Both Anton Stach and Estevao Willian were booked for cynical fouls, with Chelsea’s Brazilian starlet frustrated down the right.
That frustration was compounded before half-time, when Leeds doubled the scoring.
And Chelsea were their own undoing again.
Jayden Bogle pounced upon Enzo Fernandez’s stiff touch, and the Argentine’s blood would’ve run cold watching Ao Tanaka leather the ball into the bottom right corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Enzo Maresca‘s half-time changes implied that, similarly to the game against Nottingham Forest, he was perhaps caught off guard by how Leeds lined up.
The Italian boss admitted he had no idea whether Wednesday night’s opposition would start with a back four or a back five.
Chelsea ratings: Badiashile hooked at half-time and Estevao fails huge test in nightmare at Leeds
CHELSEA’S title hopes took a huge hit as they crashed to defeat at Leeds.
The Blues conceded three goals in a 3-1 loss at Elland Road just days after an admirable draw against league leaders Arsenal.
Moises Caicedo’s absence was felt in midfield as he missed the game through suspension.
And Enzo Maresca will be wondering whether he showed Leeds enough respect as he made several big changes to his starting XI.
Here, SunSport’s Rob Maul reveals his Chelsea player ratings…
It turned out to be a five, which they switched to against Manchester City, and the energetic Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto were half-time replacements for Benoit Badiashile and the struggling Estevao.
Three minutes into the second half though, Leeds had already twice threatened to make it 3-0.
Lukas Nmecha could only direct a cross straight into the Chelsea goalkeeper, before Calvert-Lewin skied an acrobatic attempt.
They should have buried Chelsea alive, because moments later they were climbing out of their grave and igniting a comeback.
Pedro Neto made an immediate impact and finished off Jamie Gittens‘ cross at the near post to get the Blues back in it.
The Blues got another stroke of luck with the offside flag denying Lukas Nmecha Leeds’ third.
Enter then, stage centre, Cole Palmer.
The last time Chelsea lost an away game was the last time Palmer played at all, against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Perhaps he got cold feet when he spurned a chance wide with 22 minutes to go that the travelling fans are so used to seeing him plant into the bottom corner, running onto an Alejandro Garnacho cutback.
Leeds at last got their third and put the game to bed after a piece of catastrophic defending from Tosin Adarabioyo gifted the ball to Nmecha, who set up Calvert-Lewin to tap into an empty net.
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