Tuchel extends unbeaten run as Chelsea draw at Leeds

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  • Post published:March 13, 2021

Chelsea extended their unbeaten run under Thomas Tuchel to 12 matches following their goalless draw with Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon.

Thomas Tuchel were without the services of Thiago Silva and Tammy Abraham, who continued to mend their way back to full fitness from their ankle and thigh injuries.

Leed thought they had opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Tyler Roberts slotted the ball home, but the goal was disallowed as the striker was a whisker offside.

Chelsea nearly grabbed the lead at the other end four minutes later as Christian Pulisic was through one-on-one with Luke Ayling, who swang his leg to clear but it rebounded of his defensive partner Diego Llorente and looped on to the bar.

The home side then hit the bar themselves in the 16th minute when Roberts curled his effort on to the underside, although Mendy got a slight touch on the ball.

The visitors came close once again in the 32nd minute as Kante then turned inside from the right to find Chilwell, who curled the ball just past the post.

Meslier came to his side’s rescue seven minutes later when he palmed Mason Mount’s thunderous effort from 25 yards out away from danger before Ziyech lifted a lovely ball to attack into the box. Havertz and Pulisic were on it like a rash, but the former fired his effort straight into Meslier’s body from a closing angle.

Neither side were able to break the deadlock in the first half as the game went into the break locked at 0-0.

The Blues picked up where they left off in the first half as Havertz forced an early save out of Meslier early in the second half.

Mendy was then called into action in the 55th minute when he produced a brilliant one-handed save to deny Raphinha’s goalbound strike from close range.

At the other end, Chelsea had a chance of their own four minutes later when Mount picked out Pulisic on the right of the box, where he beat his marker before firing his effort straight into the hands of Meslier.

Meslier was kept busy in the second half and were forced to make a full-stretched save to keep out Rudiger’s venomous strike from distance in the 72nd minute, before making another save in the 87th minute to deny Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Neither side were able to score the winning goal as they walked away with a point each at Elland Road.