Top-four hopefuls Chelsea will bid for a fifth straight Premier League victory when they welcome Leeds United to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
Leeds are aiming to pull further away from the drop zone with a victory in London. They are aiming to complete a first league double over Chelsea since the 1991/92 season.
Match preview
After their League Cup exit to Arsenal in midweek, Chelsea wasted no time returning to winning ways with a 3-1 triumph over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
A first-half hat-trick from Cole Palmer got the job done. Liam Rosenior became just the fourth permanent manager in Chelsea history to win each of his first four Premier League games.
Chelsea are one point behind resurgent Manchester United in the race for fourth place and will need to keep winning to aid their quest for Champions League football.
The Blues produced one of their worst performances of the season en route to a 3-1 defeat in December’s reverse fixture against Leeds.
However, they will be confident of rectifying that on Tuesday, having each of their last seven home matches against the Whites.
Leeds have made a habit of dropping in and out of the Premier League over the last five years and looked set for a return to the Championship after picking up just 11 points from their first 13 matches.
Daniel Farke’s men then beat Chelsea in matchday 14 to commence a seven-game unbeaten run during which they doubled their points tally from 11 to 22.
An agonising 4-3 defeat to Newcastle United was a setback, but the Elland Road outfit have since picked up seven of the next 12 points available after Friday’s 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
Leeds still have work to do to guarantee survival, with Tuesday’s trip to Stamford Bridge the first of three straight matches against current top-five teams.
Team news
Tosin Adarabioyo and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens are both sidelined with muscle problems, while Romeo Lavia is yet to fully recuperate from a thigh issue.
Long-term absentee Levi Colwill is making progress towards a return before the end of the season, but will miss Tuesday’s game.
Dario Essugo, Filip Jorgensen and Mykhailo Mudryk are also unavailable for the hosts, who are currently sweating on the fitness of Andrey Santos after he came off injured against Wolves.
Anton Stach is down with a hip problem for the second game running, leaving him as Leeds’ only injury concern, given Jaka Bijol, Daniel James and Lukas Nmecha all made the bench against Forest.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is now up to ten league goals for the campaign and is one to keep an eye on here.
Chelsea Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Cucurella, Chalobah, Gusto; Caicedo, Enzo; Neto, Palmer, Garnacho; Pedro
Leeds Predicted XI (3-5-2): Darlow; Justin, Rodon, Struijk; Bogle, Gruev, Ampadu, Aaronson, Gudmundsson; Okafor, Calvert-Lewin.
Prediction: Chelsea 3-1 Leeds United.
