Edouard Mendy had a disastrous moment in goal for Chelsea as they fell to a dreadful 3-0 defeat against Leeds at Elland Road.
The goalkeeper was caught on the ball by Brenden Aaronson as the Leeds man was gifted the simplest of finishes, before Rodrigo quickly brought up his fourth goal of the season.
The Blues had the occasional dangerous moment in their bid to halve the deficit, but Jack Harrison made sure of the result with 20 minutes remaining as he finished from close range. Kalidou Koulibaly was sent off late on to cap a truly woeful afternoon for the visitors.
After last week’s disappointment for Chelsea, conceding a last-minute equaliser against Tottenham, this was their first defeat of the campaign and came in particularly worrying fashion for Thomas Tuchel.
He gave a full Chelsea debut to Conor Gallagher at Elland Road, while Dan James came in for the injured Patrick Bamford to give the Leeds side even more pace.
It was a frantic start to the match, with Raheem Sterling wasting a huge chance to put Chelsea in front with barely more than 30 seconds played before Leeds also enjoyed success in forward areas.
The visitors struggled to cope with the intensity of the Leeds press, but they thought they had taken the lead when Sterling finished brilliantly. Chelsea’s celebrations had barely begun before the offside flag then went up.
A goal did come but at the other end of the pitch, as Mendy had a moment to forget with just over half an hour played. The goalkeeper took an age to do anything when the ball was played back to him, before he then tried to turn away from Aaaronson who read it, robbed Mendy and walked the ball over the line.
Less than five minutes later, the lead was doubled. Sterling gave away a cheap free-kick, Jack Harrison whipped it into the box and Rodrigo was there at the near post to flick into the far corner.
Chelsea improved immediately after the break, with Marc Cucurella and Gallagher both unable to take decent chances as the visitors pushed to find a way back into the match.
Tuchel was close to giving up on a midfield as he brought on attacking players at the expense of Jorginho and Gallagher, leaving the Blues extremely open and Leeds took full advantage.
James found space on the left wing, he clipped a cross into the box which Rodrigo inadvertently turned into the path of Harrison and he made no mistake from a matter of yards.
Koulibaly, already on a yellow card for an early foul, then summed up his side’s afternoon with a ridiculous decision in the closing stages. The centre-back dragged back Joe Gelhardt off the ball, the referee swiftly produced another yellow and Koulibaly was forced to slowly trudge off the pitch.
