Leeds United beat Chelsea 3-0 at Elland Road on Sunday, handing the Blues their first Premier League defeat of the season.
CNN  — 

Chelsea suffered a disastrous 3-0 defeat against Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday, losing their first Premier League match of the season.

The Blues had an early chance to take the lead in the second minute when former Manchester City star Raheem Sterling collected a pass from teammate Conor Gallagher and curled the ball into the penalty area, but struck the wrong side of the post.

Leeds showed signs of promise in the first half with American midfielder Tyler Adams leveling a clean pass to his side’s captain, Rodrigo, who shot the ball just wide off the right post.

Leeds cleared further attempts from Sterling and Mason Mount and began their superb streak on the heels of Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy’s shocking blunder. The Senegal international failed to take control of the ball after receiving it from Brazilian teammate Thiago Silva, giving it away to American newcomer Brenden Aaronson who scored into an open goal.

Chelsea's Raheem Sterling (left) Rasmus Kristensen of Leeds United (center) battle for the ball.

The spectators at Elland Road erupted into raucous cheers, celebrating Aaronson’s first winner for his side.

Just four minutes later, Leeds punctured Chelsea’s shaky defense for the second time as Jack Harrison lashed the ball into the penalty area on a free-kick, with Rodrigo forcing a header into the back of the net to bring his side 2-0 up.

In the second half, Thomas Tuchel’s side tipped into a downward spiral as French goalkeeper Illan Meslier deflected Reece James’ low attempt at goal in the 65th minute.

Leeds capitalized on Chelsea’s broken momentum, with midfielder Daniel James crossing the ball towards Rodrigo, who relied on Harrison to fire the ball past Mendy and seal his side’s 3-0 win.

To cap off Chelsea’s nightmarish defeat, defender Kalidou Koulibaly was sent off after tugging down Leeds forward Joe Gelhardt and being shown a red card by the referee.

“All pumped up”

Aaronson scores his first goal for Leeds United.

Leeds’ remarkable win marks their second victory of the season so far, following their relegation scare in 2021/22.

“We dreamed about it for a long time,” Aaronson told Sky Sports after the match. “For me, it’s a dream come true and for this club, it shows how much progress we’ve made.”

“We had the drive today,” he added. “We were all pumped up. The crowd got us pumped up the whole time. You could see it on the field. Everyone was driven.”

“I think we conducted a really good tactical plan,” Harrison said. “Right from the start…we knew how important it was to come out strong and be ruthless.”

“Everyone was on the same page and we managed to do that in the first half and kind of set the tone from there,” he added.

Chelsea’s loss follows their rocky 2-2 clash against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, when the respective managers Tuchel and Antonio Conte were sent off following a face-to-face confrontation at full-time.

“I think we lost it in the first 20 minutes,” Tuchel told reporters after the match. “We had huge chances.”

“We stopped doing our plan, we stopped executing what we did so good,” he added. “It was an even match, and in this even match, we gave two goals away from out of absolutely nothing. You cannot give Premier League games away like this.”