What promised to be a Premier League thriller between Leeds and Chelsea ended 0-0 at Elland Road, with Marcelo Bielsa’s side earning a rare draw.
The Whites were involved in only their second 0-0 stalemate of the league season, but things could have been different had some first half opportunities in particular go their way – most notably an effort from Tyler Roberts which struck the crossbar, with the same player having a goal ruled out for offside.
Given Chelsea’s imperious form under new manager Thomas Tuchel – the latest result seeing the Blues remain unbeaten under the German – a point is certainly a more than credible result.
One man who let Bielsa down, though, was Jack Harrison.
The Manchester City loanee was drafted back into the starting line-up in place of Helder Costa having been dropped to the bench in the last couple of weeks.
However, aside from one delicious cross early on, Harrison just couldn’t seem to get involved in the game, instead spending most of his time just trying to chase Chelsea down rather than offering anything note with the ball.
He had fewer than half the number of touches of goalkeeper Illan Meslier (23 to 50) and made far fewer passes (eight) than the Leeds shot-stopper (21) too, while he failed to provide a single key pass or have a shot on goal – the game just seemed to pass him by offensively, with much of his side’s best openings coming through Roberts.
While Harrison, to his credit, worked hard, he wasn’t his usual snappy self tracking back either – this season, he has averaged 1.6 tackles per game in the Premier League, but made none against the Blues this afternoon and also lost both of his duels.
Writing in his post-match player ratings for Leeds Live, Beren Cross gave him the Whites’ joint-lowest score of five, adding: “Another difficult afternoon for the loanee. One excellent cross which deserved to be buried, but anonymous otherwise.”
After being handed the chance to start, Harrison just couldn’t deliver on his opportunity, and that surely would have frustrated Bielsa.