Chelsea v Leeds United
Wednesday 9th September 2026, at Stamford Bridge
3rd round Carabao Cup
I was getting ready to bring my ‘Bielsa coat’ with me expecting it to be cold only for it to turn out to be another beautiful sunny day. It was down to 8 degrees when I got back to Leeds though. As I got to Elland Road an hour before the coach left, I decided to go and see what was happening at the West Stand and do a video that I later posted to my social media accounts. It was lovely talking to John who recognised me from my beret, and it was good to get some feedback from him. Someone had said the day before, that I should try and get a sponsor for my beret (I did end up on the TV before the game again today). Now I know I’m not a salesperson and wasn’t sure if it was a right or wrong decision but decided to ask our fans the question. I can’t thank John enough for his comments because it certainly lifted my self-esteem. It’s so easy at times to feel like I am fighting a lonely battle in our quest to raise funds for the Billy Bremner statue in Raploch, which had got to me a bit this week, so to be told to carry on and I’m doing a great job did wonders for me so thank you.
We had a good run down to London and left our pub stop at 5pm in order to get to the ground early for the drop off for our disabled fans. At first the rest of us were told to stay on the coach but eventually we were allowed off, and the coaches were there after the game to pick us up so saved us a long walk. As we tried heading to the normal turnstiles, we were redirected to another gate as the original ones were now for Chelsea fans, although our disabled fans still used the same entrances.
Team: Zetterer (making his debut in goal), Ampadu, Muharemovic, Bijol, Aaronson, James, Bart (making his debut), Justin, Nmecha, Longstaff, Wilson.
Subs: Stach for James (66), Tanaka for Longstaff (67), Calvert-Lewin for Nmecha (67), Okafor for Aaronson (67), Gudmundsson for Bard (78).
Subs not used: Trafford, Bogle, Elvedi, Bahoya.
Leeds lost the game 6-3 after taking a 2-0 lead with our goals scored by Muharemovic (23), Aaronson (48), Calvert-Lewin (75).
Attendance: 35,696 with 4,000 Leeds fans.
Referee: Jarred Gillet.
Booked: None from Leeds.
I knew that there would be changes to the team but still thought we would put out a strong team. When Zetterer was warming up in front of us, he looked quite small but then when he was stood with everyone else in the pregame huddle, he was still taller than some of our players.
It became a game of two halves with the first half belonging to Leeds who played well. Chelsea were limited to a few chances and Leeds took the lead from a corner when Muharemovic headed the ball into the net. Just prior to us scoring, once again Ampadu’s long throws were causing havoc in the penalty area. There wasn’t too much to worry about from Chelsea at that time as we went into the break still in the lead.
The second half saw Chelsea bring on their big guns with multimillion pound players. Obviously, they needed them to get on top of the game. Now I was convinced their first goal was from a free kick and only found out after the game that they’d been awarded a penalty. I was stood behind the goal and looking at the game through the net proved it was difficult to see what was happening at the other end. Scoring their first goal galvanised Chelsea and it was obvious to us that we needed to change things and quickly. Sadly for us Farke was too slow in making the substitutions as in the next 12 minutes they scored another three goals as we were run ragged. Even though we had our subs stood at the side waiting to come on, they could have been brought on before Chelsea scored their fourth but for some reason Farke didn’t react to it.
Although we managed to pull one back after a break away with Calvert-Lewin scoring a third, our formation still wasn’t great as Chelsea scored two more to win and go through to the next round. It was disappointing to capitulate as we did and I would have liked to have progressed in the cup, especially as it gives our fringe players game time. It wasn’t to be and now we have to look forward to our home game against Newcastle next Monday.
See you there, LUFC, Marching on Together!
