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| November 30, 2001 | Friday | Ramazan 14, 1422 |
Chelsea stun Leeds
LONDON, Nov 29: Two ice-cool finishes by Chelsea’s Eidur Gudjohnsen condemned Leeds United to a 2-0 defeat in a stormy English League Cup fourth-round match at Elland Road on Wednesday.
The Icelander pounced after 59 and 80 minutes to clinch a quarter-final place for Chelsea against a Leeds side that looked shot-shy as they wait to complete the signing of Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler on Thursday.
Aston Villa, like Leeds unbeaten in the premier league at home this season, suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday, currently in the bottom six of division one.
Leeds looked badly in need of some extra firepower up front as Claudio Ranieri’s Chelsea earned a deserved victory to boost their morale before Saturday’s premier league trip to Manchester United.
Graeme Le Saux and Mario Melchiot missed good chances for the visitors in the first half at Elland Road.
At the other end, Carlo Cudicini produced fine stops to deny Jason Wilcox and Robbie Keane, who also had a strong penalty appeal turned down.
Cudicini tipped wide an Ian Harte free kick conceded by Le Saux at the start of the second period.
But Chelsea grabbed the lead on the hour mark when Gudjohnsen, who had just shaved the outside of a post, fired a Frank Lampard knock-down past England goalkeeper Nigel Martyn.
The Icelander drilled in Chelsea’s second — his seventh goal of the season — from a pass by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink with 10 minutes left to settle a bad-tempered match.
Leeds’s misery was intensified by injuries to Stephen McPhail, Dominic Matteo and Eirik Bakke, while Le Saux was also carried off after a clash with Leeds’s Alan Smith.
Wednesday’s results (Roman numerals denote division of non-championship teams, ML denotes minor league):
Aston Villa 0 Sheffield Wednesday (I) 1
Blackburn Rovers 2 Manchester City (I) 0
Leeds United 0 Chelsea 2
—Reuters
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