Premier League: Chelsea beat 10-men Leeds United in a 3-0 riot at Elland Road: Lukaku, Mount and Pulisic amongst the goals, Watch Chelsea beat Leeds HIGHLIGHTS

A makeshift Leeds defence missing a natural full-back in Ayling’s absence had been quickly exploited by Chelsea, whose first real foray brought the fourth-minute opener as Reece James teed up Mount for a fine finish high past Illan Meslier.

Staying at 1-0 longer than appeared likely at that stage, Leeds looked to have successfully seen out a spell of relentless Chelsea pressure when Dan James thundered into a challenge on Mateo Kovacic – winning the ball before planting his studs into the midfielder’s ankle – and was dismissed.

Lukaku soon had a goal ruled out for offside and then directed a header just wide of the left-hand post as the visitors sought to capitalise. They were made to wait until 10 minutes into the second half, when Mount’s flick gave Pulisic space on the edge of the box to pick out the bottom-left corner.

Pulisic and Lukaku each fired narrowly wide, before the latter finally got his goal after patiently steadying himself in the area, with Leeds – already in the relegation zone on goal difference – surely grateful simply to avoid further damage.

What’s next?

Leeds stay in the relegation zone with that defeat, still level on points with Burnley, though they’ve now played one game more than the Clarets. They’ve got two big games left, starting with Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.

Chelsea take another step toward qualifying for Champions League football next season. Their attention turns to the FA Cup final against Liverpool on Saturday now though.