Leeds United take on Chelsea this weekend looking to seal a league double over their fierce rivals after a stunning 3-0 win back in August.
Javi Gracia has breathed new life into the Leeds side since taking over last week, clinching a hugely important 1-0 win over Southampton just 24 hours after officially taking over at the club.
Up next for Leeds and Gracia is a tough trip to Stamford Bridge to face a Chelsea side struggling to find their feet despite eye-watering sums of money being spent.
Their transfer activity hasn’t raised their standing in the table, as they sit only nine points above Leeds in the table in 10th.
Here, we look at two players who we think could walk into the current Chelsea starting lineup…
Tyler Adams
The Blues broke a British transfer record in the summer to add a defensive midfielder to their ranks with Enzo Fernandez joining for a whopping £107million.
However, despite all of this spending that they have clocked up across the last two transfer windows, squad player Ruben Loftus-Cheek finds himself starting often as they let Jorginho join Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Leeds put down £20million for Tyler Adams in the summer and he has arguably been our player of the season so far this term.
The USMNT star has been vital in so many games for Leeds and there aren’t many clubs in the Premier League that he wouldn’t stake a claim to start in.
Chelsea’s lack of balance and stability could certainly benefit from having a destroyer like Adams in place.
Illan Meslier
Meslier might not have covered himself in glory away to Everton recently, but the Frenchman is a goalkeeper in the Premier League with one of the highest ceilings for the future.
He needs to sharpen up with his distribution and his goalmouth presence, but the signs are there that he could go onto be an elite goalkeeper.
Chelsea have been credited with interest in the stopper recently, and it’s no surprise given neither Edouard Mendy nor Kepa Arrizabalaga show any consistency to keep the number one position for too long.
Meslier might show the same shakiness that the two Blues ‘keepers do at the moment, but he’s got eight years on Mendy, and six on Kepa to progress into a world-class player.
