Chelsea 3-1 Leeds United, Premier League: Post-match reaction

Manager Frank Lampard chose what is arguably Chelsea’s best starting eleven, with veteran Olivier Giroud getting the starting nod over Tammy Abraham after his four goals in our mid-week match against Sevilla for the Champions League. But unlike the “second-fiddle”, the first-choice players could not hold onto a clean sheet as former Blues centre-forward Patrick Bamford took the early lead after a collection of mistakes by our defence.

It seemed that the answer would come quickly, with Timo Werner seemingly putting an end to his four-match goalless streak 10 minutes in. But his shot hit the underside of the crossbar instead, and did not cross the line as we expected.

Luckily amends would be made by Giroud almost 20 minutes later. On a cross from Reece James, the veteran would do what he does best: score.

From half-time, the lion’s share of chances remained on the hosts’ side. So much we tried that the turning point came to us via corner kick, with Mason Mount assisting Kurt Zouma.

After much work from young Leeds goalkeeper Meslier to keep Chelsea from turning the one-goal advantage into a full-blown pounding, he was not able to stop our third goal. Werner assisted Christian Pulisic, to wrap up a great win for the Blues.

Carefree!

• Very strong lineup selected to face Leeds, after manager Frank Lampard decided to give a break to most of his favoured/first-choice players in our mid-week trip to Sevilla.
• As expected, Olivier Giroud’s four-goal performance made it impossible for Frank not to select the guy for a second consecutive match, giving the veteran Frenchman his first Premier League start this season.
• Subs are Christian Pulisic for Hakim Ziyech, Mateo Kovacic for Kai Havertz and Tammy Abraham for Giroud.
• Nice to finally have the fans back in the stands. Ambient, natural crowd sound trumps artificial noise, although the latter is an arduous job.
• The law of the ex strikes again...
• ...and so does Giroud! Hooray!
• Next up: Krasnodar at Stamford Bridge for the Champions League’s group stage.
• KTBFFH!

PLAYER RATINGS: