Leeds run hapless Chelsea into the ground to enter top four

USA USA USA: Leeds United's Brenden Aaronson (left) celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game. Photo: Nigel French/PA Wire.

Leeds 3 Chelsea 0 

Edouard Mendy provided the latest compelling evidence that goalkeepers should under no circumstances be mistaken for footballers as 10-man Chelsea spectacularly pressed the self-destruct button to stumble to their first league defeat at Elland Road for 20 years.

Thomas Tuchel's side visibly wilted in the West Yorkshire sunshine, shipping two wholly preventable goals in the space of four madcap minutes with half-time approaching to gift-wrap the three points as an increasingly impressive Leeds stretched their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.

Chelsea had looked the superior side for most of the previous 33 minutes when Mendy attempted to control a routine backpass from Thiago Silva. Such were the Senegal international's hapless attempts to bring the ball to heel, he might as well have been sporting a particularly large pair of clown's shoes, so Leeds' ubiquitous midfielder Brenden Aaronson was probably the last opponent he wanted to see bearing down on him.

The US international needed no second invitation to make a quick kill in easily dispossessing the leaden-footed keeper before rolling the ball into an unguarded net from all of 12 inches for the 21-year-old's first goal since a £25m summer move from Red Bull Salzburg.

If there had been a roof on Elland Road, it would have come off, and this venerable footballing theatre was rocking even more as the hosts almost immediately doubled their lead thanks to more self-inflicted Chelsea tomfoolery.

Raheem Sterling was fortunate not to concede a penalty when the England forward tripped Marc Roca on the corner of the Chelsea area, but Leeds meted out full punishment in any case. Rodrigo easily out-jumped Reece James to send a glancing header beyond Mendy into the bottom corner for the forward's fourth goal in three games.

Without the unforced errors, Chelsea might even have been worth a share of the spoils. Marc Cucurella wasted two presentable chances either side of the interval when Leeds were caught short down their right flank. Conor Gallagher, who looked like a little boy lost a full Chelsea Premier League debut, saw a second-half shot deflected narrowly wide before he was hooked just after the hour.

James almost atoned for his lax tracking of Rodrigo but the full-back's low shot was well saved by Ilan Meslier, and just as the visitors hinted at a late comeback, another rapier Leeds counter-attack culminated with Rodrigo diverting Dan James' cross perfectly into the path of Jack Harrison for the unmarked forward to volley home a close range third.

It ensured the final 20 minutes were played out at little more than testimonial pace. Kai Havertz was left in a heap after inadvertently getting in the way of a goal bound shot from team-mate Hakim Ziyech, and there remained time for Kalidou Koulibaly to earn a second yellow card for a needless foul on substitute Joe Gelhardt to round off an utterly forgettable afternoon for the London side.

Leeds (4-2-3-1): Meslier 8; Kristensen 8, Koch 8, Llorente 8, Struijk 8; Adams 8, Roca 7 (Forshaw 61, 7); Rodrigo 9 (Gelhardt 83, 7), Aaronson 9 (Klich 83, 6), Harrison 8 (Greenwood 83, 6); James 7 (Sinisterra 70, 6). 

Chelsea (3-4-3): Mendy 3; James 4, Silva 5, Koulibaly 2; Loftus-Cheek 3, Jorginho 4 (Ziyech 64, 4), Gallagher 4 (Pulisic 64, 4), Cucurella 4; Mount 5 (Chilwell 77, 4), Havertz 4, Sterling 4 (Azpilicueta 87, 4).

Booked: Koulibaly (Red Card), Sterling.

Referee: Stuart Attwell