IMPRESSIVE Chelsea inflicted more capital punishment on Leeds United with a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night.

The Whites’ record in London is simply woeful and the latest defeat - just a month after a 4-1 thumping at Crystal Palace - means Leeds have only won just once in their last 23 visits to the ‘Big Smoke’.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side showed their usual attacking ambition but had goalkeeper Ilan Meslier to thank for keeping his team in the game for long periods.

The 20-year-old Frenchman had already made a good block before the visitors snatched a fourth-minute lead. Kalvin Phillips’ superb pass released Patrick Bamford who raced through to score his eighth goal of the campaign.

It was a sweet moment for Bamford, who started his career at the Bridge, without making a senior appearance for the Blues.

Big-spending Chelsea have potent attacking weapons all over the pitch but somehow one of them, £47.5m Timo Werner, missed an open goal with the Leeds defence rocking.

The home side drew level on 27 minutes when Olivier Giroud escaped marker Diego Llorente, on for the injured Robin Koch, to convert a wicked curling cross from Reece James.

Koch, a pre-match injury doubt, limped off after only nine minutes so Llorente was given a baptism of fire. He and fellow centre-back Liam Cooper came under increasing pressure as the game wore on.

Leeds, playing in front of fans for the first time since March, struggled to deal with balls into the box and it was no surprise that Chelsea went in front just after an hour when Kurt Zouma powerfully headed in a Mason Mount corner.

Chelsea moved up a gear after that. N’Golo Kante began to dominate by breaking up attacks and surging forward to feed his eager forwards who were denied by Meslier.

His goalkeeping kept Leeds in the game and the arrival of substitutes Ian Poveda and Rodrigo gave United some much-needed impetus. It was still 2-1 when Poveda was clipped in the area by Ben Chilwell but opted to stay on his feet and get a shot away when he could have gone down for a solid penalty claim.

Deep into injury time Werner got beyond the Leeds defence and his cross was slid in by the supporting Christian Pulisic to give the final scoreline a more realistic look.

Bielsa said: “It was difficult for us to stop them playing out from the back with their centre-backs and Kante. It was because we didn’t press well enough at the start of the game when they played out through their centre-backs, that’s why they dominated. We needed to make playing out more uncomfortable for them.”

Leeds host West Ham United this Friday (8pm).

Chelsea, unbeaten in nine Premiership games, look the real deal and will one of the title contenders. They have a talented squad, and their ability to match United’s energy was impressive, getting up the pitch to get 23 efforts on the Leeds goal.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said: “I was nervous of Leeds. They’re a threat until the end if you don’t get a cushion. They are pretty unique in their style an they’re well coached. We knew it was a big task. Character-wise and performance-wise, on lots of levels, I’m absolutely delighted.”

Bielsa added: “The result was fair and the difference was fair. It was very difficult for us to maintain the score at 1-1 and we would have needed to defend better.

“Although we didn’t create many chances, the difficulty in the game was not neutralising them when they were playing out from the back.”

Leeds will be looking for some home comfort with their next two games at Elland Road, with West Ham visiting this week before Newcastle on Wednesday, 16 December.