1st May 2026. English Premier League.
It’s been an unusual season for Leeds – mostly this season, when the chips have been down, we’ve delivered.
There hasn’t been quite so much of the shooting ourselves in the foot syndrome this season. Some, but not too much.
Ahead of the game with Burnley, it felt like it could be one of those old Leeds moments. We were so close to the safety line and playing an already relegated side, and one that has frequently turned us over in games where we dominated in recent seasons, it felt like it could go against us. But another early goal settled most nerves and, apart from the final twenty minutes after we gave them a goal, Leeds were pretty dominant.
The first goal showed once again how it is always worth having a shot – Anton Stach has now scored four this season from outside the area, and no other PL player has managed that to date. Okay, I think the Burnley keeper, Martin Dubravka, might feel he should have done better, but the shot was perfectly placed inside the right-hand post and came out of the blue. Leeds had eight other attempts in the first half and dominated all aspects of the game.
The second half started perfectly too, with two further goals in the first ten minutes after the break. Burnley were sloppy, it has to be said, and even the usually pass-perfect James Ward-Prowse is no longer the player he once was. It was he and his mates in midfield who gave the ball away to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, brilliantly intercepted, and our England striker raced away down the inside right channel, albeit seemingly into a bit of a cul-de-sac. No matter, DCL looked up, saw where Jayden Bogle was heading and nonchalantly back-heeled the ball into his path, taking three claret-clad defenders out of the game in the process. Jayden then lifted the ball to the back post, and there was the man of the moment again, Noah Okafor, to finish with aplomb. It was right up there with some of our best goals of the season.
The third goal wasn’t in quite the same class – another by way of an Ethan Ampadu long throw that wasn’t dealt with. An Ao Tanaka shot was spilt by Dubravka, and DCL was there, back to his goal-poaching best at long last, to score his first goal from open play for quite some time. DCL’s all-around game was much better today, and who knows, maybe he’ll now have another little run of goal-scoring games. That back-heel assist for the Okafor goal was to die for!
Three-nil and Leeds were in total control, but it wouldn’t be Leeds without a bit of jeopardy, would it? We were lucky to escape the first time when a marginal offside call saved our bacon, but then Pascal Struijk, not for the first time this season, got himself in a tangle trying to tackle Loum Tchaouna, and the Burnley man rifled a shot past Karl Darlow. There are some question marks looming over Pascal's defending lately.
There were still twenty minutes to go, and I guess it was not surprising that the nerves began to show in both the players' and the fans' behaviour. There was so much to lose at that point, and our history of finding ways to give up a lead weighed heavily upon our shoulders. But we got to the line this time, in the game and possibly, almost certainly now in the season. Burnley bossed the possession in the second half to the same tune that Leeds bossed it in the first although both sides had about the same nunber of goal attempts, it was another case of Leeds going cool in the second period although as noted, I'm sure nerves played a huge part in that. The only two big chances of the game both fell to Leeds in the second half.
So, we can now sit back and enjoy watching our rivals scrap it out over the weekend and, who knows, we could even relegate Spurs next week on their own patch! Sorry Archie!
Premier League
Leeds United 3 (Stach 8’, Okafor 52’, Calvert-Lewin 56’)
Burnley 1 (Tchaouna 71’)
Leeds: Darlow (GK), Bogle (James 90'), Ampadu (C), Struijk, Rodon, Calvert-Lewin (Gnonto 90'), Bijol, Stach (Aaronson 72’), Okafor (Nmecha 65’), Tanaka (Longstaff 72’), Justin. Subs not used: Perri (GK), Piroe, Bornauw, Byram.
Burnley: Dúbravka (GK), Walker (C), Hartman (Pires 65’), Estève, Anthony, Humphreys (Amdouni 76’), Tchaouna, Ekdal, Flemming (Broja 76’), Ward-Prowse (Florentino 65’), Laurent (Hannibal 54’), Subs not used: Weiss (GK), Worrall, Ugochukwu, Edwards.
Venue: Elland Road
Referee: Thomas Bramall
Attendance: 36,265
Booked: Struijk, Rodon, Calvert-Lewin, Ampadu (Leeds) Humphreys, Tchaouna, Hannibal (Burnley)
