‘Evolution’ is key for Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United

He used it in reference to the flexible display of Tyler Roberts who impressively operated as a number ten and a conventional centre-forward in Saturday’s 0-0 top-flight draw with Chelsea.

But he might have easily used the word to describe his side’s mature performance which underlined just why they belong on the top-flight stage and how much they are learning.

Chelsea, yet to sample defeat under Thomas Tuchel, enjoyed more possession – 62 per cent – than any side have against a Bielsa-led Leeds team.

Leeds did not panic and put in a balanced performance in defence – despite fielding their 13th different centre-defensive partnership this term in Diego Llorente and Pascal Strujk – and posted threat in attack.

Bielsa said: “We made a big, big, big effort so that the game would not become unbalanced. It was with a slight domination from us in the second half and more clear dominance from them in the first half.

“But the offensive production of each team was similar and this is very difficult to achieve (against Chelsea).”

Liam Cooper missed the game through sickness, with the club assessing the fitness of Patrick Bamford, who came off in the first half on Saturday.

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