Credit: Imago

James Barker

Sat 25 April 2026 17:40, UK

Noah Okafor is in my combined Leeds United and Chelsea XI ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final showdown at Wembley Stadium.

Nothing quite gets the heart racing for English football fans like a trip to Wembley, does it?

It’s the place where heroes are made and dreams come true; moments for supporters to cherish, or possibly to have haunt them, for a lifetime.

And so, under Wembley’s famous arch, Leeds and Chelsea will clash for a place in the FA Cup final, which is somewhere the Whites haven’t been since 1973.

Before Leeds and Chelsea meet on Sunday, however, I’ve put together my combined XI of Blues and Whites players, with selections made based on what the players have achieved this season only.

Pascal Struijk makes combined Leeds/Chelsea XI in defence

Starting off at the goalkeeper position, the two big candidates here are Leeds’ Karl Darlow and Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez, and it’s actually quite a tough one.

Darlow has been excellent for Leeds since taking over from Lucas Perri, but I think for what he’s done over the course of the season with nine clean sheets and 2.65 goals prevented over Darlow’s -1.73 (per Sofascore), I’ll go with Sanchez here.

Then moving over to right-back, for as good as Jayden Bogle’s been this season, I can’t not have Reece James in here, as for my money, he’s one of, if not the best right-back in world football when he’s fit and firing.

At left-back, I’ve gone with Leeds’ Gabriel Gudmundsson, as I actually think he’s had a more impressive and impactful campaign than Marc Cucurella, and young Jorrel Hato has blown hot and cold.

Filling my two centre-back spots, I’ve settled on a pairing of Trevoh Chalobah and Pascal Struijk.

Chalobah has been superb for Chelsea, and was unlucky not to be called up by England for the March internationals, but could still earn a spot on the plane with a strong end to the season.

Meanwhile, Struijk has been Leeds’ best central defender this season in my opinion, and the 26-year-old gets the nod over his teammate Jaka Bijol and the Blues’ other main contender, Wesley Fofana.

Okafor earns midfield spot in Leeds/Chelsea combined XI

Now we get into the meat and bones of this combined Leeds and Chelsea team: the midfield.

Starting off in the engine room, I’ve gone for an all-Chelsea central midfield partnership of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.

It was incredibly tough to not include both Ethan Ampadu and Anton Stach here, as both have been fundamental to Leeds’ success this season, and do deserve to be in the team.

However, they’ve ran into a ridiculous pair of Chelsea midfielders, with Fernandez scoring 13 times and providing nine assists in 53 games this year, whilst Caicedo has five goals and two assists from 49 but offers so much more than that.

On the right wing, Pedro Neto was not a difficult selection here whatsoever, as the Portuguese star has 13 goals and seven assists, and is one of the toughest wingers to stop when he’s at his best and gets him in over Estevao, just.

Over on the opposite flank is where I’ve found a home for Okafor, as Alejandro Garnacho doesn’t provide much competition here for me, and neither does Jamie Gittens, respectfully.

Leeds’ Swiss star is only getting better as the season goes on, and with eight goal contributions from his last eight games in all competitions, he looks set to be a fundamental part of Daniel Farke‘s team moving forward.

Now, I wonder who might be able to fill my number 10 spot in this team? Yeah, unfortunately, I can’t justify taking Brenden Aaronson over Cole Palmer here.

Having said that, the England international is having a slight down year compared to his previous seasons at Stamford Bridge, with just the 13 goals and five assists compared to 15 goals and 11 assists last term.

Some slump that is.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin misses out of combined XI

Now we need to decide who leads the line in this combined XI, with their only being two contenders here.

In the Leeds corner, we’ve got Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The 29-year-old has been one of the bargain buys of the Premier League season, and has 12 goals and one assist from 34 games to his name.

And in the Blue corner, we find Joao Pedro. This 24-year-old Brazilian has been scoring to a samba beat this season, with 22 goals and six assists from 48 games.

He’s taken his game to another level at Stamford Bridge, and therefore, Calvert-Lewin will hopefully understand why I can’t have him in this team over him.

To round it off though, my manager for this team is undoubtedly Farke, with Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior both receiving the axe this season, whereas the Leeds boss looks to have kept the Whites up in comfortable and impressive fashion.

Full combined Leeds/Chelsea XI: GK Sanchez, RB James, LB Gudmundsson, CB’s Struijk, Chalobah; CM’s Caicedo, Fernandez, RW Neto, LW Okafor, CAM Palmer; ST Pedro; Manager Farke