A former Premier League striker who was once the scourge of Leeds United is picking them for an FA Cup upset against Chelsea on Sunday.

Once upon a time Leeds United supporters hated to see Alan Shearer coming. The former Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and Southampton striker was the scourge of the Whites, with a canny knack of finding the back of their net. Shearer scored 21 goals in his 24 games against Leeds, more than he scored against any other club. His haul included six braces and a hat-trick. Shearer never scored against Leeds in the FA Cup, mostly because he never met them in that competition. Now a pundit and commentator working across the media, Shearer is backing Leeds ahead of a huge weekend but expects an upturn in performance from Chelsea.

The Blues are in a rancid run of form ahead of the semi-final, losing seven of their last eight. The only bright moment in that period was the FA Cup victory over League One relegation zone dwellers Port Vale. Defeats by Man City, Man Utd and Brighton cost Liam Rosenior his job on Wednesday, just prior to Leeds’ 2-2 draw at Bournemouth. He has been replaced by Calum McFarlane who has worked in youth football at Man City, Southampton and Chelsea. He was part of Rosenior’s backroom team and previously took interim charge of Chelsea when Enzo Maresca departed.

“For Calum McFarlane, I know he worked with Rosenior as part of his team; but he did the Man City game before Rosenior was appointed and there was a big improvement in that game, when he took over,” said Shearer, speaking to Betfair.

“There will likely be an improvement from Chelsea under the interim manager, but there is huge pressure on those players to perform. Leeds are pretty much guaranteed Premier League football next year, so there is not as much pressure on them. For that reason, I am going to go for a Leeds win. It will be a brilliant atmosphere. The pressure is huge on Chelsea, not so much on Leeds, so it could be a good day out for the Leeds fans.”

Leeds moved to 40 points with their draw at the Vitality Stadium on Wednesday and go into the semi-final seven games unbeaten.