Chelsea put in a disappointing performance as Leeds United end a run of four successive Premier League defeats with an important 3-1 win at Elland Road.
Leeds United moved out of the relegation zone with a brilliant victory over a disappointing Chelsea at Elland Road. Goals from Jaka Bijol, Ao Tanaka and Dominic Calvert-Lewin secured a 3-1 win for the Yorkshire club, as Enzo Maresca’s woes against them continued.
The Italian coach has now lost all three of his league meetings against Leeds, and this defeat leaves his side nine points behind Arsenal in the Premier League table and even fall behind Aston Villa into fourth place following their respective wins over Brentford and Brighton tonight.
Daniel Farke’s side raced into a sixth-minute lead, with Anton Stach’s corner delivery finding the head of defender Bijol. After beating his marker, he sent a powerful header into the corner of the net to become just the fourth Slovenian to score a goal in Premier League history.
After Chelsea went down to 10 men in their London derby with Arsenal on Sunday thanks to Moisés Caicedo’s first-half red card, we questioned whether the Blues’ awful disciplinary record in recent years would be the major issue in their quest to be among the Premier League title contenders. Those disciplinary issues arose again when Estêvão was lucky to receive only a yellow card with a petulant kick out in the 39th minute.
He may have escaped further punishment, but Chelsea couldn’t avoid it only a minute later, as Leeds doubled their lead via a lovely strike from influential midfielder Tanaka.
The Japanese international scored his first Premier League goal in style, as his low shot from outside the box had enough power and swerve to beat the outstretched hand of a diving Robert Sánchez in the Chelsea goal. He became the first Asian goalscorer for Leeds United in Premier League history.
Maresca made a double change at half-time, with Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto coming on for Benoît Badiashile and Estêvão, and it was the Portuguese forward who halved the deficit just four minutes and 36 seconds after his introduction.
Great work from Jamie Gittens on the left wing saw him dart to the byline before sending a cross that went through to the back post, where Neto was waiting to slam the ball into the back of the net. It was Neto’s fifth Premier League goal of the season, equalling his best tally in a single campaign in the English top-flight (5 in 2020-21 for Wolves).
Any hopes of a Chelsea turnaround were extinguished in the 72nd minute, with the Blues only having themselves to blame.
Awful defending from Tosin Adarabioyo, who dallied on the ball and saw Lukas Nmecha steal the ball off him inside the box, eventually led to Calvert-Lewin to tap the ball into an empty net and put Leeds 3-1 up. It meant that he’s scored in consecutive Premier League appearances for the first time since September 2024.
The only positive for Chelsea tonight would be the return of Cole Palmer, but even with the England international returning to full fitness, it’s going to be hard to imagine any sort of title challenge for the Blues with such a gap between themselves and the league leaders following this loss.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Leeds United vs Chelsea stats from their Premier League meeting at the Elland Road on 3 December 2025.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Leeds United 3-1 Chelsea Stats: Post-Match Facts
Chelsea have only won 19% of their Premier League games away to Leeds United (3/16). Among sides they’ve faced 10+ times away from home in the competition, only against Manchester United (18%) do they have a worse win percentage.
Since joining the club ahead of the 2023-24 season, Chelsea have won just 25% of their Premier League matches when Moisés Caicedo hasn’t been in the starting XI (2/8), compared to 52% when he has been a starter for them (43/82).
Ao Tanaka’s goal was the 808th scored by Leeds United in the Premier League, but the first to be netted by an Asian player (Japanese).
Joe Rodon has now started in Leeds United’s last 100 league/play-off matches, becoming the first outfield player to achieve that feat for the Whites since Norman Hunter between September 1962 and April 1965 (113 in a row).
Premier League Stats Opta
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