On the night when Leeds celebrated the career of one of their great managers, how fitting the timing felt that the 2025 class of Elland Road delivered a display and a result of which Howard Wilkinson would have been proud – and one which the incumbent manager desperately needed.
Leeds’s season may ultimately not be defined by a night such as this, but it could well be reignited by it. The pressure had been mounting after a run of four successive defeats that had dropped the side into the relegation zone, and left speculation swirling over Daniel Farke’s future at the club.
However, this comprehensive and deserved victory against Chelsea was a performance that had all the hallmarks of Wilkinson’s great teams of the 1990s – aggression, energy and quality. Wilkinson was given a standing ovation at half-time when he was inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame.
The result not only moved Leeds out of the bottom three, but perhaps alleviated some of the pressure on Farke in the process. He switched to a back three for the first time this season in a response to Leeds’s recent woes, and it paid off in some style. From minute one, the hosts were the superior team and Chelsea had little in the way of an answer on a night they will be keen to forget and move on from quite quickly.
As for Leeds, this will be an occasion they will cherish and one they will hope to build upon with the stuttering champions, Liverpool, the visitors on Saturday.
First-half goals from Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka put the hosts into a deserved two-goal lead by half-time and, while Chelsea responded with a Pedro Neto goal after the restart, Dominic Calvert-Lewin exploited a shambolic defensive error with 18 minutes to go to ensure there would be no doubt over the outcome.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Farke said. “The players deserve to have a night like this because I can’t remember one poor home performance in the last 15 months.”
Inspired by his tactical adjustment, Leeds were magnificent in the early exchanges. Bijol’s thunderous header from an Anton Stach corner broke the deadlock inside five minutes and a raft of chances came the hosts’ way thereafter, too. They finally took one of them as half‑time approached when Tanaka beat Robert Sánchez from long-range to double Leeds’s advantage.
In response, Chelsea offered little. Whether they were jaded from their exploits against Arsenal three days earlier is unclear, but this was a performance way below the levels they have delivered this season, with not a single shot on target in the first half.
Maresca responded accordingly at half-time, with Malo Gusto and Neto coming on. Those changes had a swift impact, as Neto turned home a Jamie Gittens cross to halve the deficit. But any Chelsea momentum was short-lived, and to Leeds’s credit they weathered what was ultimately a brief storm to get back on top of proceedings.
Lukas Nmecha thought he had restored their two-goal advantage before his fine finish was ruled out for offside but it mattered little. Chelsea struggled to mount a meaningful threat for an equaliser and when Tosin Adarabioyo fumbled inside his own area, the ensuing scramble led to the excellent Calvert‑Lewin tapping into an empty net to spark jubilant scenes among the home support.
By full time, all seemed well in this part of West Yorkshire as Farke celebrated with the home support. He may need more than this in the long term, but it was some start in terms of a showing to prove he is still the right man for this job.
