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Key events
56 min: It’s tipping down, by the way. Coming down in stair-rods.
55 min: Porro is thankfully back up, but he’s not happy and telling it as he sees it to anyone who will listen. He is fuming. Kudus takes the resulting free kick and wafts it harmlessly towards the bottom right, where Darlow claims without fuss.
53 min: Ampadu catches Porro late in a 50-50 challenge just outside the Leeds D. Porro felt that, and requires some treatment. Studs on shin. Yellow card, although VAR takes a while to clear the option of a red. There didn’t look to be any malice in it, but it was reckless, and Ampadu couldn’t have complained if he’d got his marching orders.
51 min: Incidentally, that Calvert-Lewin shot was deflected a little bit by Romero’s extended leg, taking the ball further away from Vicario. So that was some save. Let’s give the Spurs keeper, who has made his mistakes this afternoon, fair measure.
49 min: … and then Aaronson whistles a low cross through the six-yard box from the right, Calvert-Lewin inches away from poking home. Had either of those chances gone in, it’d have been nice to hear the trenchant exchange of views between Simons and Romero.
48 min: Tel sends Simons into acres of space down the right. Simons has the opportunity to release Romero, of all people, down the middle, but overeggs the pass, attempting to find his team-mate with a rabona, for goodness sake. Leeds go straight up the other end, Calvert-Lewin spinning and taking a shot towards the bottom right. Vicario sticks out a strong leg to deflect away from danger.
47 min: Porro crosses from the right. Darlow does well to palm the ball away from goal with several Spurs players closing in. “Leeds lack of an on-form striker might still be telling this season. But they’ll take scoring Vicariously today.” Justin Kavanagh the latest of you to channel Peter Oh in this MBM.
Leeds get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes. “When I saw the team sheet, I worried about having two of our front three operating with a shortage of confidence and a lack of final product,” begins Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo. “I am glad to see Tel on the score sheet. I hope it represents the start of something. I am old enough to remember the scepticism of Harry Kane when he was coming through, and we’ve seen how that turned out.”
More half-time entertainment. A schadenfreude special for Leeds fans.
Half-time entertainment. “At Arsenal on Wednesday Daniel Podence, who is 5ft 4in, could be seen actively sprinting away from every set-piece like a guilty husband caught on kiss cam. At one point he leapt for a high ball and it was as if someone had thrown an action man at Ben White from a passing car.” Another day, another Barney Ronay classic. Enjoy, enjoy.
HALF TIME: Leeds United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Both teams have brought the energy. Both teams have scored. Both teams have hit the woodwork. It’s been a fun game. The scoreline seems about right.
45 min +3: Other than that – a reasonably significant caveat, to be fair – this half is petering out.
45 min +1: The first of four additional minutes passes by … but not without significant incident, as Simons sends Udogie clear down the left with an insouciant flick of the boot. Udogie flip-crosses to Tel, who steers a header towards the top left but off the crossbar. Darlow beaten all ends up. Leeds clear their lines.
45 min: Some more from our man at the ground, Ross Heppenstall.
Spurs have threatened to tear Leeds apart at times with some of their incisive counter-attacking football, but the scores are deservedly level.
Tottenham have played the silkier football but there is an energy and a physicality about the hosts.
Fascinating contest in the West Yorkshire sunshine.
43 min: Incidentally, as Okafor’s shot was heading into the bottom left, a petrol-station-forecourt ball rolled onto the pitch and nearly clanked into the matchball. If Pepe Reina is watching this, he’s permitted one cold shudder down the spine.
41 min: Palhinha isn’t happy about that decision, and absurdly performs the dive mime. The referee does well to keep his counsel, and his cards in his pocket. Palhinha threatening to talk himself into a second yellow and a red card that would register 11 on our patented Ekitike-o-meter®.
40 min: Aaronson dribbles down the right and is unceremoniously flipped into the air by the sliding Palhinha, who goes into the book.
38 min: Okafor whips a cross in from the left. A couple of inches lower and Calvert-Lewin was surely planting a header into the net from six yards. But the ball sails over his head.
37 min: Spurs are suddenly skittish, and Aaronson is able to tee up Longstaff for a speculative shot from distance. The ball sails over the bar. Elland Road is bouncing.
35 min: Okafor, his tail up, makes good down the left but is shouldered to the floor by Udogie. No free kick, for some reason. Daniel Farke not happy.
GOAL! Leeds United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Okafor 34)
Bogle whips in from the right. Calvert-Lewin, his back to goal, cushions the ball into the road of Aaronson, who slams a shot straight at Vicario. The keeper, who has been poor since the get-go today, parries straight into the path of Okafor, who can’t miss from a couple of yards. The leveller!
33 min: Tel and Longstaff both require treatment for knocks. Tel goes off, as per regulations, but Longstaff is allowed to stay on and restart the game with a free kick. Thankfully for folk who tire easily of confected controversy, nothing comes of the set piece, but Leeds come again, and …
31 min: Kudus whips a vicious dipping cross in from the right flank. Odobert, coming in from the left, should slam home from a couple of yards, but clumsily skies it straight into the air, and off Bogle’s arm. Darlow claims. Odobert claims too, for a penalty, but come on and come off it. Bogle was right next to him and knew nowt about it. An egregious miss.
30 min: Calvert-Lewin has been whacked by Van de Ven and is currently walking around in the ginger style. He gives up on a long pass that offered hope. Perhaps he’ll run it off, but penny for the thoughts of any Everton fans.
28 min: Ampadu delaps another throw from the right. Bentancur heads clear. “Tel ya what, that was a beauty!” quips Mary Waltz. “Apologies to Peter Oh.”
27 min: Calvert-Lewin sashays in from the left and blazes over the bar. Big waste. Spurs go up the other end, Udogie in acres down the left. He squares for Kudus, who opens his body and slices wide left when he surely should have scored. Somewhere in a parallel universe, the latest score is 1-2.
25 min: That’s Tel’s first goal of the season, and an answer to a small coterie of critics. Tottenham now need just three more goals to become the first-ever away team to score four goals on three consecutive visits to Elland Road.
GOAL! Leeds United 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Tel 23)
Bentancur wins the ball in the centre circle. He feeds Kudus down the middle, who shuttles right for Tel, who takes his second and third touches of the game to advance down the channel and take a whack. The ball almost immediately takes a nick off Struijk’s outstretched leg, and spins on an upward trajectory over Darlow and into the top-right corner.
22 min: Kudus comes through the back of Stach’s standing leg. He goes into the book. It wasn’t overly aggressive, but it wasn’t a good challenge either. Orange would have been about right, but he couldn’t have complained too much if the referee flashed red.
21 min: Simons dribbles into the Leeds box from the left and goes over. He doesn’t claim a penalty, and that’s because he’s lost his balance all by himself. The crowd still give him what-for.
19 min: … but it’s a throw, and we’re living in Tony Pulis’s world now. Ampadu launches it long from the right, causing brief confusion in the Spurs defence. But nobody in white can get to the ball and the visitors eventually clear.
18 min: Leeds have been quiet for the last few minutes, but they spring to life again through Okafor and Gudmundsson down the left. A corner is won. It’s swung into the mixer by Longstaff and eyebrowed away from danger by Palhinha.
17 min: Simons finds Udogie in acres again down the left, but the full-back has gone too early and up goes the offside flag. Simons looking almost as sharp as Kudus.
16 min: Simons slips a cute ball down the left channel for Udogie, whose shot-cum-cross is parried clear by Darlow. Palhinha tries again from long range but that’s not happening. Spurs beginning to find their rhythm.
15 min: Kudus steals the ball from Stach and power-glides down the middle of the park. He slips the ball wide left to Odobert, who takes a touch in the hope of setting himself for a shot, but only succeeds in gifting the ball to Bogle, who clears. Kudus is so easy on the eye when he’s in this mood.
13 min: The pace drops for the first time.
11 min: Vicario nearly makes an awful hash of dealing with a simple long ball. Out of his area, he almost accidentally handles while attempting to chest down. He adjusts himself and shepherds the ball back to his box, where he finally deals with the situation. But it’s not been a stellar start for the Spurs keeper.
10 min: Spurs get their foot on the ball for the first time. Kudus with an elegant spin into space. Odobert crosses from the right. Simons cushions the ball back to Palhinha, who blooters a shot over the bar.
8 min: Early days of course, but Leeds have enjoyed 68 percent of possession so far.
7 min: Okafor skips past Kudus on the left touchline with ease and flair. He prepares to zip past Porro too, but the full-back is having none of it, and gets a shoulder in. Free kick. That could be a booking, too. Longstaff sends the set piece towards the far post. Vicario comes off his line and gets nowhere near the ball. Rodon meets the ball with a strong header, but crashes it off the post. With the keeper on walkabout, he probably should have scored. But that’s pretty darn close.
5 min: The corner comes in from the left and falls to Stach on the right-hand edge of the D. Stach volleys but slices horribly wide left. The ball pings off Ampadu’s head en route to the stand, but doesn’t go any nearer to the goal.
4 min: Longstaff and Stach both win 50-50 challenges in midfield to get Leeds on the front foot. Romero thinks Stach has handled the ball, but again the referee lets things flow. The first corner of the game is won.
3 min: A cracking atmosphere at Elland Road, by the way. Like that’s breaking news. One of the great old-school theatres.
2 min: Bogle sends a long pass down the right for Calvert-Lewin, who is skittled to the ground by Van de Ven. You’ve seen free kicks given for much less, but the referee waves play on and the ball sails out for a goal kick. It’s a contact sport, I guess.
Spurs get the ball rolling. No wind! No rain! Storm Amy can do one.
The teams are out! Noah Butterfield, 3, lost his sight while battling illness but gained a pal in Leeds captain Ethan Ampadu. The pair hold hands as they lead the players onto the pitch. Little Noah in a 1970s smiley hat, the star of the show. Leeds in white, Spurs in black. We’ll be off in a minute.
This from our man at the ground! The Guardian, comin’ atcha from all angles. You’re welcome.
Twenty minutes before kick-off and it is threatening to turn into a beautiful autumn day at sun-drenched Elland Road, writes our reporter Ross Heppenstall.
Archie Gray is on the bench for Spurs but there will be no match-up with his younger brother Harry, 16, who is a nursing a minor hip injury and doesn’t make the Leeds bench. Archie, 19, will hope to make it onto the pitch at some point today to face his boyhood club.
He spoke to the Guardian in December 2023 in his first-ever major interview about his career trajectory and hopes and dreams …
Daniel Farke talks to TNT. “This is why we were so desperate to be back in the Premier League … to have this type of game … a top side … we know we have to be at our very best today to have a chance to win points … performance-wise I am pleased we have been competitive … it is good not to have to rotate too much … I am pleased with my squad.”
Thomas Frank speaks to TNT Sports. “We try to find the balance between consistency and freshness in the team … Richarlison has done two 90 minutes in a row … hopefully [Mathys Tel] will have a good performance today … [Xavi Simons] has been solid with good glimpses … it is a month ago he has arrived … I am happy with what I have seen but there is more to come … all areas need adding layers … solidness and mentality at set pieces has been lifted … creating enough is the next bit … the most difficult thing in football … relationships … we will keep working on it … there has been energy in all of our games … very happy with that … I’m aware this is a difficult place to go … but we are ready.”
Leeds drew 2-2 with Bournemouth last weekend. In fact they very nearly beat them. A result that is maturing better than fine wine. Look!
As a result, they’re unchanged. Spurs by contrast have made three changes to their starting XI from the 1-1 draw with Wolves last weekend. Mathys Tel, Pedro Porro and Wilson Odobert come in for Richarlison, Lucas Bergvall and Djed Spence, all of whom drop to the bench.
The teams
Leeds United: Darlow, Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmundsson, Longstaff, Ampadu, Stach, Aaronson, Calvert-Lewin, Okafor.
Subs: Meslier, Piroe, Nmecha, Bijol, Harrison, Tanaka, Bornauw, Justin, Gruev.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Joao Palhinha, Bentancur, Kudus, Simons, Odobert, Tel.
Subs: Kinsky, Danso, Richarlison, Gray, Bergvall, Johnson, Spence, Sarr, Davies.
Referee: Thomas Bramall (Sheffield).
Preamble
The team lying fifth plays one sitting comfortably in 12th at the start of play … so given the lack of any significant historical enmity between the two clubs, there can’t be too much jeopardy in this one, can there?
Well perhaps not. However. Tottenham have won their last four matches against Leeds, scoring four goals in each of the last three. Widen the focus, and they’ve won nine of the last 11 meetings in the Premier League. If they score another four today, they’ll become the first club in history to notch that number in three consecutive visits to Elland Road.
So there’s plenty of pride on the line for Leeds, who will lean on their excellent home form: they’ve gone a full year without losing a league game on their own turf, a run that takes in 23 matches. One sequence or another has to snap today, then. Or maybe both. We’ll find out what’s what from 12.30pm UK time. It’s on!
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