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Former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Picture: Sky Sports) Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink praised Xabi Alonso’s decision to sign experienced former England striker Danny Welbeck as Chelsea beat Leeds United in a thrilling Carabao Cup tie. The Blues looked set to crash out of the cup competition as they trailed 2-0 at home to Leeds but produced a sensational comeback to run out 6-3 winners. Cole Palmer scored twice in the space of three minutes to bring the cup tie level before Pedro Neto put Chelsea ahead on the hour mark. Welbeck added a fourth for the hosts who scored four goals in 12 second-half minutes to turn the tie around before Dominic Calvert-Lewin gave Leeds renewed hope with a 75th-minute goal. Sign up for In The Mixer, Metro's football newsletter Get exclusive analysis and previews of the biggest games every Friday. Sign up now for free. But Chelsea were not to be denied a place in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, with summer signing Valentin Barco settling any nerves with the hosts’ fifth before Welbeck scored his second of the night deep into injury-time. Ex-Brighton striker Welbeck also scored in Chelsea’s previous Carabao Cup win over Luton Town and Hasselbaink believes he will prove to be a shrewd signing for the Blues. Chelsea’s talented but inexperienced squad has been crying out for some leadership in recent seasons and Alonso was quick to take up the chance to sign former Manchester United and Arsenal star Welbeck. Danny Welbeck scored in Chelsea’s win over Leeds (Picture: Getty) Welbeck will largely play back-up to in-form Chelsea striker Joao Pedro but Hasselbaink nevertheless believes he can be an influential figure at Stamford Bridge on and off the pitch. Asked about Chelsea’s decision to sign Welbeck, Hasselbaink said on Sky Sports: ‘He’s going to add a lot, come on! ‘He’s played for Arsenal and Manchester United, and did the business for Brighton. He knows he’s not going to be the number one at Chelsea and he will settle for that. Chelsea came from behind to beat Leeds (Picture: Getty) ‘But he can give so much to the other players on and off the pitch. He will be talking to the other players and helping that way but also he wants to score and he will want to be on the end of things. ‘It’s a great signing for Chelsea.’ Ex-Premier League defender Conor Coady, who has shared a dressing room with Welbeck for England, added: ‘Everywhere he’s been he’s scored goals, but more than that he’s a leader, a real leader. Class from Danny Welbeck 😤 pic.twitter.com/FUFKxlzXDz— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) September 9, 2026 ‘He’s a top striker but his personality and what he will bring to the group off the pitch, nowhere will really understand the importance of that unless you’re in it. ‘He’s a brilliant professional, as we’ve seen during his career in the Premier League, and I just hope he can go from strength to strength playing for Chelsea.’ Welbeck featured in Chelsea’s match programme for the visit of Leeds and discussed his first few weeks at Stamford Bridge. ‘I feel very privileged to make the switch to Chelsea,’ the 35-year-old said. ‘It’s such a big club. ‘At this stage of my career, it’s massive. I’m very honoured to receive the chance to come here and to be a part of this project. It’s exciting and one where I feel we can build something special. ‘A little bit of talk is about my age, but it’s just talk. I’m here to push on, to improve. I feel really good – fit, strong, and obviously last season I had my best goalscoring season. I’m ready to push on.’ Chelsea return to Premier League action on Saturday against newly-promoted Hull City. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
Former England striker Gary Lineker (Picture: YouTube) Gary Lineker insists Arsenal are ‘one of the favourites’ to win the Champions League but could be denied by Barcelona following the signing of Manchester City legend Rodri. Premier League champions Arsenal kick-started their Champions League campaign with a 1-0 win over Serie A side Napoli on Wednesday. The Gunners enjoyed a memorable run to the final last season before suffering a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to back-to-back winners PSG. Lineker believes Arsenal are once again one of the leading contenders to become European champions after a productive summer and strong start to the new season. Sign up for In The Mixer, Metro's football newsletter Get exclusive analysis and previews of the biggest games every Friday. Sign up now for free. Mikel Arteta bolstered his title-winning squad with the signings of Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, England defender Ezri Konsa and Greece winger Christos Tzolis during the summer transfer window. Arsenal already look like favourites to retain their Premier League crown, with Manchester City the only other team to still boast a perfect record after three games. While Lineker expects Arsenal to go back-to-back in the Premier League, he believes they could be a ‘superstar’ short in the Champions League, where he expects Barcelona to thrive. PSG have won the last two Champions Leagues (Picture: Getty) Hansi Flick’s Spanish champions were minutes away from the Champions League final two years ago before reaching the quarter-finals last season. Barca, who are already three points clear of La Liga rivals Real Madrid, welcomed Ballon d’Or Rodri to the Nou Camp in the summer in a £65m deal from Man City. ‘Arsenal will be one of the favourites but I don’t think overall they’ve got quite the superstars that some of the other big guns in Europe have,’ Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast. Arsenal suffered a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat (Picture: Getty) ‘I do think Barcelona might be quite tasty and take some beating this season now they’ve got Rodri in there as well in that crucial position.’ Ex-Man City defender Micah Richards has also questioned whether Arsenal have the attacking flair to go one better in the Champions League. Arteta tried to sign Vinicius Junior and Julian Alvarez in the summer but the Brazil icon stayed at Real Madrid while the Argentine striker failed to force his way out of Atletico Madrid. {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"'It was beautiful': Arteta hails Arsenal's attack-to-defence display in win against Chelsea","contentUrl":"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/09\/07\/2593273995855020828\/480x270_MP4_2593273995855020828.mp4","description":"Arsenal came from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium after Morgan Rogers stunned home fans into silence with a volleyed goal 77 seconds into the game.","duration":"T5M27S","height":270,"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/09\/07\/07\/111091359-0-image-a-53_1788761962819.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-07T07:17:08+0100","width":480} To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page window.addEventListener('metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded', function(data) { if (typeof(data.detail) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === 'undefined') { return; } var player = data.detail.carousel.el_; var container = player.closest('.metro-video-player'); var placeholder = container.querySelector('.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder'); if (placeholder) { container.removeChild(placeholder); container.classList.add('metro-video-player--related-videos-loaded'); } }); ‘I’ve got no doubts about them in the Premier League but I’m not sure about Arsenal in the Champions League,’ Richards added. ‘If you go back to last season they were actually favour
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