Leeds United have just three games to stay in the Premier League for next season, with a tough fixture against Chelsea up next after defeat to Arsenal.
Jesse Marsch's side will be without Luke Ayling for the remainder of the season after the defender picked up a red card in the 2-1 defeat at the Emirates at the weekend. Marsch confirmed that club captain Liam Cooper will feature against Chelsea on Wednesday night after returning to full fitness.
Leeds will hope that Chelsea field a weakened side with the Blues facing Liverpool in the FA Cup final on Saturday, which could give the home side a better chance of picking up a positive result. The Whites are currently 18th in the Premier League table, level on points with Burnley and just a single point behind Everton.
READ MORE: Daniel James details how Jesse Marsch's positivity is helping Leeds United
So, what line-ups will both teams select and what could the final score be? We used FIFA 22 to get a score prediction for Leeds against Chelsea on Wednesday and this is what happened. We used kick-off mode in FIFA 22, but didn't select a team to control, we then selected the teams and watched the match play out by itself, to give us a score prediction.
Leeds vs Chelsea score predicted by simulation
We predict that Leeds could set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their line-up as follows: Meslier; Shackleton, Llorente, Cooper, Firpo; Klich, Phillips; Raphinha, Rodrigo, Harrison; James.
We predict that Chelsea could set up in a 3-4-1-2 formation, with their line-up as follows: Mendy; Christensen, Rudiger, Sarr; Azpilicueta, Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic, Niguez; Ziyech; Werner, Lukaku.
Chelsea started the game stronger than Leeds and soon found an early opener through Timo Werner, as the German striker lashed the ball past Meslier at the near post to put the visitors 1-0 up. A long ball forward was nodded down well by Lukaku, Werner drifted into the space and latched onto the loose ball with a fierce strike into the roof of the net past the Leeds 'keeper leaving the home side a goal down early in the game.
Leeds responded well and found an equaliser on the stroke of half-time as Daniel James pounced on a mistake at the back by Sarr, raced in on goal and slotted the ball past Mendy to make it 1-1. The Welsh forward pressed high up the pitch and forced Sarr into a poor pass, beating Rudiger to the ball before having the composure to send Mendy the wrong way and get the home side back on level terms before the break.
In the second half, Marsch's side came out fighting and took the lead through Rodrigo after a superb counter-attack saw the Spaniard finish the move off in fine style to make it 2-1 to the home side. Kalvin Phillips released Raphinha down the right wing as the Brazilian got in behind Saul Niguez and Sarr before drilling the ball across the box for Rodrigo to volley home from close range, with James jumping out of the way and distracting Mendy in the Chelsea net.
Chelsea were able to find a late equaliser through Werner as the Blues counter-attacked Leeds as the home side pushed for a third goal. Werner broke the offside trap and burst away from Llorente on the break, composing himself before firing the ball towards the far post as Meslier was unable to predict where the Chelsea striker would put his shot with the Whites being pegged back to 2-2.
Leeds held on after some late pressure from the away side saw Lukaku hit the crossbar, but Marsch's side took a vital point from an intense game against Chelsea. The draw put Leeds level on points with Everton, but the home side could've took all three points if they had the clinical edge to finish more of their chances in the game.
FIFA 22 predicted final score: Leeds 2-2 Chelsea
Here are the full-time match stats.
FIFA 22 predicts that Leeds could earn a vital point against Chelsea but could have taken more from the game if Marsch's side were able to be clinical in front of goal and taken their chances. The home crowd helped energise Leeds to an impressive display but the sense of disappointment lingered after the game with the home side having a number of golden opportunities to take all three points, but most were wasted as the Whites only took a point from a tough game against Thomas Tuchel's side.
