Chelsea vs Leeds kick-off delayed just 20 minutes before game was due to start

Chelsea’s Carabao Cup tie against Leeds United has been delayed.

The Blues confirmed in a statement that kick-off at Stamford Bridge has been pushed back by 15 minutes.

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As a result, the match will now start at 8:15pm, rather than 8pm.

Why was Chelsea’s Carabao Cup game against Leeds delayed?

According to a screen within Stamford Bridge, the reason behind the delay was due to ‘an issue with the rail network’.

The Transport for London site states that there are ‘severe delays’ on the District, Circle and Hammersmith and City lines.

Emergency services were dispatched earlier on Wednesday to deal with a casualty on the track.

The transport issues impacted the kick-off time because the nearest tube station to Stamford Bridge, Fulham Broadway, is situated on the District line.

How did Chelsea and Leeds reach the Carabao Cup third round?

Chelsea booked their spot in the third round of the Carabao Cup following a comfortable 2-0 win over League One outfit Luton Town on August 27.

As for Leeds, they progressed thanks to a 2-0 win away at Nottingham Forest, with Daniel James and James Justin getting on the scoresheet.

How do Chelsea and Leeds line up for the Carabao Cup third round match?

Blues boss Xabi Alonso elected to give several of his key players a rest in Wednesday’s encounter as he made a whopping nine changes to the line-up that fell 2-1 to Arsenal on Sunday.

Mike Penders, Levi Colwill, Malo Gusto, Pep Chavarria, Valentin Barco, Estevao, Jamie Gittens and Danny Welbeck all came into the starting 11.

Alonso also boldly handed a debut to 16-year-old midfielder Reggie Watson.

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Like Chelsea, Leeds made a significant amount of changes – eight to be exact – to the starting line-up.

In the new-look side, Leeds boss Daniel Farke handed debuts to goalkeeper Michael Zetterer and defender Melvin Bard.

Zetterer joined from Eintracht Frankfurt while Bard moved from Nice on a season-long loan.

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