Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard warns team-mates about Leeds United rivalry
Frank Lampard has been warning those members of Chelsea’s foreign legion who have not been to Elland Road about the reception awaiting them and the club’s long-standing rivalry with Leeds United.
Chelsea returned downhearted from the Club World Cup in Japan knowing they must pick themselves up quickly for their Capital One Cup quarter-final, a game of increasing importance following elimination from another competition.
The rivalry between Chelsea and Leeds intensified in the Seventies, particularly after the ferocious 1970 FA Cup final replay that was scarred by a litany of offences, most memorably Ron “Chopper” Harris clattering Eddie Gray.
The fixture has long been depicted as a slightly clichéd collision of cultures – Yorkshire meets the King’s Road – but the enduring antipathy between supporters remains real enough.