Police on alert for Leeds United vs Chelsea FA Cup semi-final at Wembley | OneFootball

Police are on alert ahead of Leeds United’s FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea at Wembley later this month. According to Leeds Live, authorities want the fixture to pass without trouble.

Leeds booked their weekend at Wembley on April 25/26 after a penalty shootout win over West Ham on Sunday, then were immediately drawn to face their historic rivals from London.

West Yorkshire Police will liaise with the Metropolitan Police to agree measures around the game, and extra officers will be deployed to manage two large followings that could each top 30,000.

Recent meetings have passed without incident, including when 6,000 Leeds supporters travelled to Stamford Bridge in February. The reverse fixture at Elland Road before Christmas was also trouble free, and there is hope this will be similar.

Leeds expect a ticket allocation of 32,000 and accept that more supporters could travel to the capital without tickets. Club officials will meet West Yorkshire Police to plan how the day will be controlled.

It is Leeds’ first FA Cup semi-final in 39 years. Their two previous Wembley visits were for matches against Southampton and Doncaster, occasions that did not carry the same crowd risk. The rivalry’s past provides context, with the 1970s and 80s seeing repeated flashpoints, when Chelsea’s Headhunters and Leeds’ Service Crew were among English football’s most notorious firms and had numerous violent encounters.

Source: Leeds Live