(Credit: Imago)

Jacob Raw

Sun 26 April 2026 17:01, UK

Leeds United were sent crashing out of the FA Cup semi-final by Chelsea after a 1-0 loss, and there were some poor performances for the Whites.

Chelsea started the contest on the front foot and capitalised on Brenden Aaronson missing a golden chance in the first half.

Enzo Fernandez headed the Blues into the lead and forced Daniel Farke to make some changes at halftime, taking off James Justin and Jaka Bijol to go more attacking.

Despite the proactive move, the Whites weren’t able to provide a comeback, and as a result, they will not be meeting Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

Leeds’ loss to Chelsea will hurt, but at least the Whites look likely to stay in the Premier League, with their focus now clear.

James Justin deserved the hook vs Chelsea

Leeds fans dominated Chelsea supporters at Wembley, but ultimately, it wasn’t enough to get the Whites over the line.

It became quite obvious that Farke needed to make some changes at the break, as Steven Gerrard pointed out while commentating on the game that the midfield was the area where Leeds were losing the game.

Justin was an obvious player to take off the field, as his influence on the game was next to nothing in the first half.

As seen in the table above, Justin won 0 per cent of his ground duels against the Blues and had a long ball accuracy of 50 per cent.

The Englishman made just three defensive contributions, and his lack of impact led to a deserved substitution after 45 minutes.

As seen in the graphic above, Justin was given a low 6.4 FotMob rating, and Leeds looked much better in the second half with Joe Rodon at the back.

Ethan Ampadu deserved to lift trophy with Leeds

Ethan Ampadu has been arguably Leeds’ player of the season, and that was no different against Chelsea.

The Welshman covered every blade of grass and played as though he was deserving of a chance to lift the FA Cup.

Leeds had few positives to take from the loss, but the 25-year-old’s display was the bright spark, as he boasted a sublime 89 per cent pass accuracy on the biggest stage.

Ampadu won six ground duels, including one last-man tackle that kept the Whites in the game and with a chance of taking it to extra time. He earned a 7/10 rating.

It wasn’t meant to be, but hopefully, sometime in the near future, Ampadu can lift a trophy with Leeds.

Leeds player ratings vs Chelsea

Lucas Perri – 5

Gabriel Gudmundsson – 6

Pascal Struijk – 4

Jaka Bijol – 5

James Justin – 4

Jayden Bogle – 6

Ao Tanaka – 6

Ethan Ampadu – 7

Noah Okafor – 6

Brenden Aaronson – 5

Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 5

Substitutes

Joe Rodon – 6

Anton Stach – 7

Sean Longstaff – N/A

Lukas Nmecha – 4

Wilfried Gnonto – 5