{"id":665069,"date":"2026-02-10T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=665069"},"modified":"2026-02-10T04:30:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:30:51","slug":"leeds-united-team-news-predicted-lineup-chelsea-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/02\/10\/leeds-united-team-news-predicted-lineup-chelsea-february\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Team News and Predicted Lineup vs Chelsea for February 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tricky away trip to in-form Chelsea awaits Leeds United, who will be full of confidence after securing a well-deserved 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest last time out. With West Ham also picking up three points at the weekend, the Whites\u2019 gap over the relegation places<\/a> remains just six, so a result at Stamford Bridge could be vital in their bid to stay up. Here is our Leeds team news and predicted lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds United Team News and Predicted Lineup For Tough Chelsea Away Trip<\/b><\/h2>\n

How Leeds Have Lined Up Recently\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Karl Darlow has now started four Premier League games in a row in goal for Leeds, so appears to have firmly grasped the number one shirt for the remainder of the season. The experienced 35-year-old showed his shot-stopping prowess against Forest, making five saves as Sean Dyche\u2019s side piled on the pressure in the second half, and ensuring his team took all three points.<\/span><\/p>\n

In front of him, Leeds were again forced to cope without Jaka Bijol, who was not yet fit to start, meaning that James Justin joined Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk in the centre-back trio. Justin was exceptional, keeping Forest\u2019s forwards at bay whilst also pushing forward and setting up Leeds\u2019 second goal with a smart cutback for Noah Okafor.<\/span><\/p>\n

At wing-back, Daniel Farke opted for his usual pairing of Jayden Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson, with the former opening his account for the season with a well-taken finish past Stefan Ortega in the 26th minute.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>Mauricio Pochettino Tottenham Return – Investigating a Potential Reunion<\/a><\/p>\n

In midfield, Brenden Aaronson was selected alongside Ilia Gruev and Ethan Ampadu, as the Leeds boss continued his trend of playing the American in a more central role for home fixtures. However, it was the slightly understated Gruev who stole the headlines<\/a>, recording two fantastic assists and having the finest game of his United career so far as Leeds dominated the middle of the park.<\/span><\/p>\n

Up front, Okafor was paired with top scorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin, with both forwards finding the net and generally enjoying a highly productive evening against the Forest backline. That\u2019s 10 league goals for Calvert-Lewin this season, marking just the third time the Englishman has hit double figures in the Premier League.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Recent Form and Tactics<\/b><\/h3>\n

Leeds\u2019 scintillating victory over Forest at Elland Road was their sixth home win of the season, meaning that they have now accrued 22 of their 29 points this season<\/a> in home fixtures. However, Farke\u2019s side now have to travel to high-fliers Chelsea and Aston Villa before they return to Elland Road on February 28 to take on Pep Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>Chelsea Team News & Predicted Lineup vs Wolves<\/a><\/p>\n

The Whites may therefore need to rethink their approach to away matches, where they have generally sacrificed creativity to include three hard-working midfielders in the side. This has often left forwards Calvert-Lewin and Aaronson isolated, leaving Leeds heavily reliant on set-piece situations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>Liam Rosenior’s Tactical Shift at Chelsea<\/a><\/p>\n

With Okafor highly impressive against Forest with his dazzling pace on the counter-attack, perhaps it is time for Farke to start the Swiss international against Chelsea to boost his side\u2019s threat on the break. Aaronson could then be shifted into midfield to provide additional creativity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Team News<\/b><\/h3>\n

Leeds will have to cope without key defender Struijk<\/a>, who has picked up an issue with his hip flexor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anton Stach will also miss out, with Farke saying in his pre-match press conference that he will \u2018probably just’ be back for the Villa game next week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Predicted Lineup<\/b><\/h3>\n

GK: Karl Darlow<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Joe Rodon<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Jaka Bijol<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: James Justin<\/span><\/p>\n

RWB: Jayden Bogle<\/span><\/p>\n

LWB: Gabriel Gudmundsson<\/span><\/p>\n

CM: Ethan Ampadu<\/span><\/p>\n

CM: Ilia Gruev<\/span><\/p>\n

CM: Brenden Aaronson\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ST: Dominic Calvert-Lewin<\/span><\/p>\n

ST: Noah Okafor<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tricky away trip to in-form Chelsea awaits Leeds United, who will be full of confidence after securing a well-deserved 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest last time out. With West Ham also picking up three points at the weekend, the Whites\u2019 gap over the relegation places remains just six, so a result at Stamford Bridge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5510,"featured_media":665072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<\/smartframe-embed>","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6443,30,3,1831],"tags":[9646],"class_list":["post-665069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leeds-united","category-news","category-premier-league","category-starting-line-up","tag-leeds-united-predicted-lineup"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665069"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":665073,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665069\/revisions\/665073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}