Leeds United    4 (Calvert-Lewin 38, 45+4, Ampadu 60, Stach 90+11)​

Crystal Palace  1 (Devenny pen 90+2))

 

20th December 2025. English Premier League.

36,334

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That was the performance of the season for me! Leeds continue to build momentum and have now gone four (and a half) games unbeaten, including games against four of the best sides in the division, the side with the best home record, and now we’ve beaten the side that had the best away record! The switch to 5-3-2 at halftime during the Manchester City game continues to look like a masterstroke by Daniel Farke that seems to have completely changed our season.

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Palace arrived at Elland Road on the crest of a wave, with this game sandwiched between a crucial UEFA Conference League fixture that, had they won it, would have seen them qualify for the knockout stages of that competition, and a big Carabao Cup quarter-final with Arsenal next Tuesday. They rested all of their best eleven on Thursday, so they had clearly prioritised this game against the Mighty Whites in the Prem. They arrived at Elland Road with the best away record in the Premier League, having taken 16 points and having conceded only five goals in eight away games from Selhurst Park. Leeds shot that record to pieces!

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It was an absolute masterclass of set-piece football from the Peacocks – scoring from two Ethan Ampadu long throws that were executed to perfection, Dominic Calvert-Lewin getting on the end of both and grabbing two more goals to give him six in the last five games - the first another poacher's goal, stabbed home at the second attempt and the second a trade mark DCL header from a Bijol flick on. Ethan Ampadu nipped in sharply to poke home the third, being the first to spot the chance after a speculative nod at goal by little Brenden Aaronson. The goal capped another top-class performance by our Rolls-Royce midfielder, his debut Premier League goal, and then, denied a penalty by a matter of a few inches when Ilia Gruev was tripped, just outside the box, up stepped Anton Stach to curl home the free kick anyway! We should remember that we also had what looked like a good shout for a penalty denied in the first half, too, when Brenden Aaronson appeared to be taken out by a sliding Tyrick Mitchell tackle.

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Leeds dominated this game for all but the final ten minutes or so, bossing the possession in both the first and second halves and outshooting Palace in both too. Leeds hit the target with eight out of 20 attempts while Palace managed three on target from nine. Leeds also won nine corners against five for Palace. Even the foul count against Leeds was amazing – just five free kicks given against the Whites in the entire game. It was truly a masterclass.

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It was disappointing to concede the late penalty – that left us still without a clean sheet since that goalless stalemate against Newcastle at the end of August- and to see us wobble a bit in those final few minutes, a period that also saw Palace hit the woodwork. So, not perfect, but damn close to it, and we made a very good Palace side look very ordinary, just as we did with their London rivals, Chelsea, a couple of weeks ago.

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Daniel Farke has made much of how our fitness helps to counterbalance the fact that many teams have better overall quality than we do, and that showed again for the majority of the game today; Leeds’ press was ferocious and rapid, giving the visitors no time on the ball at all.

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So, it was another good day for Leeds with the three teams at the foot of the table all failing to win, so we now have a six-point advantage over West Ham in 18th spot. There is, of course, still much work to do and two tough-looking away games coming up that could dramatically alter how it looks at the bottom. But, the self-belief in our camp must be sky high at the moment, and who’d bet against us bursting Sunderland’s bubble next weekend… we still owe them one for that point they nicked off us up there last season!

 

Happy Christmas, everybody – let’s enjoy a Whites’ Christmas!

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