Things to know ahead of Chelsea v Leeds.

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This weekend sees Frank Lampard's Chelsea face Marco Bielsa's Leeds united in an eagerly anticipated match that it's popularly believed to be highly heated and intense. Lampard is going to face another stern test this season in a Leeds side who has been good to watch this season

Leeds are a high-speed possession team that focus a lot on creating chances to score opposition teams and use their high intensity style to overpower teams which show in their high amount of shots they have taken. Leeds are second in the league for amount of shots taken with 153.

They have a 56% possession stat which shows how much they like to have the ball. They most notably had more possession than Mancity this season. few teams are able to achieve that against Pep Guardiola teams.

So Chelsea will have spells without the ball , and what we do during that time is very important, cause leeds create a lot of chances, so Frank would also be willing to reduce that amount when defending

Leeds attack using a 3313 with Kalvin Phillips which is a key man who drops into the middle of the defence and helps to play out of the back. then the 2 attacking mids Klich and Hernandez (injured)stay as 8's the 2 full backs push up to the wide midfield positions

They rotate a lot, especially the 2 attacking mids to create space for passing lanes. Leeds focus most of their attacks down the flanks, with rotational movements and combinations of the 8's, wingers, and the Fullbacks who form triangles to create passing options for one another

An example here. It also shows how important kalvin Philips is important to their play. Being their Jorginho in Sarriball if you will. plays it for Raphina who dummies for Dallas the fullback who continued his run from deep

They are already in behind Everton's fullback. They go on to almost score.

Its these rotations that they use to cause teams problems, not the same intensity but a bit like how Sheffield use their Cbs to cause overloads on the flanks and use third man runs to release their fullbacks is similar to how leeds use 3rd man runs to release their fullbacks

and wingers into crossing positions.

also be wary of Leeds wingers. Harrison and Raphina/Helder costa. who are also very comfortable taking their fullbacks in 1v1 situations and putting a ball for a cross/cutback, or releasing their underlapping fullback

Leeds also love sending a barrage of crosses into the box, they have the most crosses into the opposition box in the league this season, 215 crosses joint with Aston villa. Harrison, Ayling(fullback) Costa all are encouraged to send in crosses and cutbacks at every opportunity.

Then Leeds flood the box with at least 4 players most times to get on the end of crosses, cutbacks, and loose balls, it is why they have a lot of shots. They also have the most big chances missed with 18 this season in the premier league. so they can cause problems,

so we have to defend as a team to be able to limit these chances cause we are very good at limiting shots on target to our goal, Mendy has faced 9 shots in his 6 premier league games and saved 8 of them, so this is a massive test of our defensive strength.

Our wingers have to help track their fullbacks when they venture forward and our 8's should be mind full of covering the halfspaces to defend against those rotations. Leeds are reasonably poor against a deep block.

But Frank Lampard isn't going to park the bus against Leeds, no far from that. a bit similar to spurs will try to stop counters using his counter-press and try to create his own chances in front of fans. so expect frank to not full aggressively press Leeds

since they can play out of it. you have to pick your moments to press them. or they carve you open on the flanks. especially if Giroud starts because he isn't our best pressing striker.

How can we hurt Leeds?

Chelsea should look to exploit Leeds on transitions and counters. Leeds leaves a lot of space in the middle and fullback positions when they attack and they are responsible for the highest amount of turnovers in the league this season.

Chelsea's midblock press and counter-press will be important to try and collect the ball from Leeds and immediately go on counters. and if you give this Chelsea team space and a high line like Leeds play, they will punish you.

Thats why Leeds usually leave their fullbacks in 1v1 situations against opposition wingers, why Pulisic or Hudson-Odoi are important in this type of game. Pepe cause them troubles until his red card with direct dribbling, something Havertz will thrive on in midfield

because they match opponents 1v 1 and have individual battles all over the pitch. If Giroud is playing, his hold up play to Werner/Pulisic will be important cause Leeds don't usually gather second balls well in front of their defence.

The Main Challenge for Chelsea will be if they can match up to the intensity of Leeds cause they have had all week to rest. Thankfully our key players have had 1 week's rest too. Because matching the intensity and physicality of Leeds is very important.

Leeds defend like that too, They usually match up 1v1, and if you play Chelsea that open, they will hurt you. . They have conceded 17 goals this season in the premier league. Clear cut chances are guaranteed against Leeds Just to finish them.

Predicted xi

Mendy, James, Silva, Zouma, Chilwell, Kante, Mount, Havertz, Werner, Giroud/Abraham, Ziyech

Likes Rts , Thoughts appreciated

Thank you