Chelsea vs Leeds prediction: ENGLAND: FA Cup betting tips on match 2024-02-27 19:30.
Chelsea have to dust themselves down from Sunday’s sapping Carabao Cup final where they conceded late in extra-time to lose 1-0 against Liverpool, thus suffering a sixth-straight domestic cup final defeat. They’ll be bidding to end that rotten streak in May in the FA Cup, but first they need to see off Leeds United in this fifth-round tie, and six-straight competitive H2H home wins should at least boost confidence they can take a step closer to the final here.
Interestingly, the two haven’t met in the FA Cup since the final way back in 1970, when the Blues lifted the trophy after bettering the Yorkshire side following a replay. They will hope they can keep this hold over the visitors and traditionally, this hasn’t been a stage of this competition in which Chelsea have tended to falter, with the Blues progressing from 13 of their last 15 fifth round ties.
While the history and difference in placing within the football pyramid makes Leeds underdogs for this clash, they travel with sky-high confidence and will surely be backing themselves to pull off an upset. The Whites scored three late goals to complete a standout victory against Leicester City on Friday (3-1), securing a ninth successive league win at the expense of the Championship leaders.
That cut the gap between themselves and Leicester to just six points, but that promotion push will be briefly put to one side now as Leeds aim to reach the FA Cup quarter-final for the first time in 21 years. They have gone close to reaching this stage in that time, suffering eliminations in the fifth round on three occasions – including last season against Fulham (2-0).
Players to watch: Enzo Fernández is bidding to become the first Chelsea player since Pedro in 2016/17 to score in the third, fourth, and fifth rounds of a single FA Cup campaign. In blistering form at the moment, Wilfried Gnonto has scored in four straight Leeds away games, including the fourth-round replay win at Plymouth.
Hot stat: Leeds have scored 3+ goals in three of their past four FA Cup away games (including extra time).