Leeds United would have been distraught when Conor Gallagher hammered home a late winner for Chelsea last night, the Whites valiantly battling with their Premier League hosts throughout the FA Cup tie.

Unfortunately, the scoreline would swing in the favour of Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea come full-time with the Blues just about avoiding the humiliation of an upset with a slender 3-2 victory.

Daniel Farke will have been left pondering what he could have done differently when the referee sounded the whistle at the end of an action-packed 90 minutes, the German manager scrutinising what changes in personnel might well have enabled his second-tier side to beat their top-flight opponents.

One of those could well be the fact Daniel James shouldn't have started the clash in west London upon reflection, the former Manchester United winger not at his electric best against Chelsea whatsoever.

Dan James' performance vs Chelsea in numbers

James wasn't at the races at all in the intense mid-week tie, with Jaidon Anthony having to pick up the slack for his attacking partner by registering two assists on the night.

In contrast, James was passenger-like. The Leeds forward would register just 31 touches in total at Stamford Bridge before being hauled off by Farke on the 79-minute mark, the Welsh attacker coming in with a lower total of touches than Illan Meslier in the Whites goal who boasted a superior 57.

The below-par Whites number 20 would only muster up 14 accurate passes in the 3-2 defeat too, on top of failing to notch up a single on-target effort to try and expose a weak Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal.

Minutes played

79

Touches

31

On-target shots

0

Accurate passes

14/20

Duels won

0/1

Possession lost

11x

James could well find his starting spot sacrificed for Leeds' next Championship match off the back of this second-rate showing, with Wilfried Gnonto pushing to be back in Farke's XI regardless of the Welshman battling back from injury.

If Gnonto was unleashed from the get-go in this tie, Leeds might have been able to pull off an impressive upset to further pile on recent Chelsea misery.

Wilfried Gnonto's performance vs Chelsea in numbers

Once described as being an "absolute nightmare" for defenders to keep tabs on by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, Gnonto couldn't quite get to his devastating best against the Blues to make a lasting impact.

The Italian attacker was only afforded 11 minutes of action at Stamford Bridge in truth, but the 20-year-old winger did look lively in spurts.

Gnonto would complete one successful dribble attempt from this brief cameo against Pochettino's hosts, alongside winning three ground duels as a presence attempting to unsettle the Blues into making an error late on.

Fouled two times when on the pitch as well, Chelsea could well have found it hard to thwart Gnonto for a full 90 minutes if Farke had bravely started the ex-FC Zurich man.

With Gnonto starting – who has three goals in his last three second-tier matches – alongside Anthony and Mateo Joseph causing havoc, Chelsea might not have been able to ride the Leeds storm in the manner they did to then grab a last-gasp winner.

One silver lining from a Leeds point of view will be the fact they can concentrate solely on winning promotion up to the Premier League now, with Gnonto potentially crucial to those chances.