Leeds United (Away) 04.10.2025

With captain Cristian Romero restored to the side, he was one of six changes to the starting line-up in the Arctic Circle in mid-week.  Mathys Tel came in to play as the lone striker in place of Richarlison and Xavi Simons came in to start after being benched on Tuesday.

When a ball was played down the right for Calvert-Lwin, he found himself up against Micky van de Ven, who eased him off the ball that ran out for a goal-kick.  With a fervent Yorkshire crowd behind them, you could expect a fierce start and a fifth minute corner was played out to Joe Rodon at the back of the 18 yard line, from where he hit a meaty volley that flicked off Ampadu’s head on its way wide.  Okafor then won a free-kick when Pedro Porro was ruled to have fouled him and Guglielmo Vicario lost his bearings as it was played in, with Rodon heading against the far post and then Struijk heading wide when the second phase put a cross into the area.

Spurs had seen little of the ball as they had failed to settle down early on, not being able to move the ball into the Leeds half.  When they did, the ball was moved across the pitch and when Wilson Odobert’s cross from the right was headed out, Joao Palhinha got a shot in from just outside the box, but it rose into the stand behind the Leeds goal.  Joao then played a long high ball over the defence for Mohammed Kudus to get in on the right, but Gudmundsson got back to win the ball.  Kudus then won the ball in the centre circle and played Odobert into the box in the left-hand channel, but Bogle tackled him to take the ball away.  Xavi Simons played a cute pass through to Destiny Udogie on the left, chipping it over Bogle and his cross hit Darlow in the chest and when it came out, Palhinha’s shot was blocked.  With long throws being back in fashion, Ampadu launched one into the Spurs that was not dealt with that well and the ball dropped just outside the six-yard box until Udogie kicked it away.

A ball was knocked forward after Bentancur nicked the ball on halfway, with Mo playing the ball left to Mathys Tel 40 yards out.  He ran into the box and let go a shot as he was on his own with nothing else on and  the ball sent past Darlow after it took a touch off Struijk’s leg.  Mathys has shown that given the chance, he has a powerful shot that will trouble keepers and he now had his first goal of the season.

Tottenham were sloppy at the back allowing Calvert-Lewin in to take the ball inside the box to his right and then blazed wide and high, with the restart seeing Odobert play a ball down the left that free Destiny beyond the Leeds back-line and he moved forward before releasing it to his right for Mo Kudus to take a first time shot that he got wrong, curling it wide of the goal when he had time to take a touch and steady himself.

When in possession, Spurs were looking more confident and a long Porro cross went over Udogie’s head in the middle and Wilson came in at the back post, claiming a handball against Bogle.  It hit his hand but VAR decided it wasn’t a penalty, but as play went on, Tel was knocked over by Rodon and was left on the floor, but Leeds broke getting a free-kick when Longstaff went down as Palhinha went in to tackle him.  It was cleared by Spurs, but when play continued, a cross from Bogle on the right came in and Aaronson’s shot was deflected forcing Vicario to a good reaction save and Okafor tucked it away from close range as he followed the shot in.

Bentancur got robbed 20 yards out on the right and a ball inside gave Longstaff a shot that was blocked and then another that he hit too high.  Pressing harder now, Leeds were winning the ball in the Tottenham half, but when Palhinha slid in on Aaronson in front of the Leeds bench he got a booking without touching him either.

Ampadu clearly took out Kudus after he had the ball knocked past him, without a booking which seemed lenient compared to the Spurs yellow cards, especially as he actually made contact.  With a minute before half-time, Bentancur blazed a 25-yard effort over the bar, as Leeds dropped everyone back behind the ball.  A neat move down the left wing between Wilson, Udogie and Xavi saw the Dutchman lift the ball over the defence for Odobert to lift the ball into the goalmouth and Tel met it with a powerful header that hit the bar in added time at the end of the first half.

Rain greeted the players as they came out for the second half, with the Leeds keeper obviously worried that the ball would be slippery, as he palmed out a pacy Porro cross without much pressure on him  When Spurs broke out a through ball put Simons clear, but he got caught up and he tried to make a Rabona pass to Romero, who was up with the attack, but it sold him out of position as Leeds went forward.  The ball went up to Calvert-Lewin on the edge of the box and his shot took a touch off Cristian’s studs as he tried to block it and that forced Vic to stick out a left leg to take the ball away from goal, but then a ball across the face of goal by Stach failed to be converted by a white shirt.  The same happened with no black shirt there to put away Udogie’s low ball across the face of goal.

Ampadu finally got booked when he raked down on Porro’s shin ten yards outside the box.  The free-kick was eventually taken after a VAR look and treatment for Pedro, who ranted at the fourth official about the nature of the challenge, but it was gently lifted into Darlow’s hands by Kudus.  I am not sure why Porro had to leave the field, as I thought that if Ampadu had been booked, it meant that the injured player didn’t have to go off.  It could only have been that the injury from the foul was so bad that he couldn’t carry on immediately.

In the 57th minute, Pedro’s ball down the line was lost by Gudmundsson as he tried to control it and Mo Kudus was on it straight away.  He ran to his left and with Darlow going that way, he struck his shot towards the near post wrong-footing the keeper to score.  It was a fine finish and Mohammed got off the mark for his first Tottenham goal.

Spurs kept going forward and neat play on the left freed Destiny, whose low cross went through everyone in the goalmouth.  The linesman gave an offside, but I am not sure who it was against.  The rain continued to pour down and Okafor fouled Porro and belatedly got a yellow card for it, as did Romero for his remonstrations with the Leeds forward.

When Porro broke down a Leeds move, the ball was played forward for Simons, who took the ball on and exchanged passes before lifting a cute pass over the defence but Porro couldn’t get his effort on target.  Spurs were breaking things up and Palhinha ran the ball away before crudely being pushed down from behind by Longstaff.  An obvious yellow card ?  Apparently not. Same again when he pushed Simons down with two hands.

Longstaff went close with a shot from the edge of the box, with Spurs making a couple of changes with 17 minutes left, as Sarr replaced Simons and Richarlison came on for the limping Mathys Tel.   Straight away Calvert-Lewin flew into a challenge with Romero that was high and physical, but the referee gave a free-kick and nothing more.

Richarlison had nowhere to go when surrounded by four Leeds players 30 yards out and the ball ran for Bogle, who hit a shot about 15 yards wide.  Calvert-Lewin caught Romero late once again, but the referee wasn’t even looking at the ball.  As the match entered the last ten minutes, Tottenham were sitting deep, with only Richarlison as the out ball available.  Wilson Odobert was sacrificed to bring on Kevin Danso to shore up the defence, with Leeds searching for an equaliser.  It switched the formation to a 5-3-2.

Micky got caught trying to let the ball go out, but when it was dragged back to Bogle, he hit his cross off beyond the far post.  Richi went closer when he got on the end of a pass in the right side of the box, but with no support, he took a shot towards the far bottom corner that took a deflection for a corner.  Porro went to take it and was hit by something thrown from the crowd.  When he did take it the ball went over everyone and out for a goal-kick.

A late high ball into the box saw Calvert-Lewin climbing and when Vicario punched it away, Struijk clattered into him with no attempt to get the ball.  Then a Leeds long throw was headed out a couple of times before the ball dropped for Longstaff to have a volley that went 10 yards wide.  They were throwing their big men forward as they lumped balls into the area, but Struijk was stretching to win a header that went wide.  The went closer when Calvert-Lewin headed one down and Piroe’s shot bounced just in front of Vicario, who did very well to palm the ball away with Destiny crouching down to head it out for a corner.  Struijk headed one off a Spurs head and wide, then a cross came in with the same Leeds player going down wanting a penalty when Richarlison made contact with him.  Struijk had been offside anyway and when play continued, Palhinha saw the ball back to Guglielmo and Nmecha pushed the Portuguese midfielder straight into the keeper.  It was a dangerous push and one where there was no intention to go for the ball, but once more the referee failed to recognise what is worthy of a yellow card.

With a little resolve, Spurs saw the game out and it was another three points and second place in the table, if only until the later games were completed.  The last few matches, even though they haven’t all been wins, have shown Tottenham in a different light to the last few seasons.  Gone are the dreary defensive days of Conte and Mourinho, gone are the Angeball highs and lows, with a more pragmatic attacking philosophy and a defensive nous that has been the basis for managing the play.

However, Tottenham must clamp down on the chances they give up to the opposition, as we won’t always be as lucky as today when the forward that the chances fell to was Calvert-Lewin, who doesn’t appear to have benefitted from a change of scene after leaving Everton, still being unable to find the net on anything like a regular basis.  He had two clear sights of goal with one fired over the top and the second that Vicario would have saved more easily had it not taken a deflection off of Micky’s lunge to try to block it.

For all the “passion” of the Leeds fans there were patches of blue seats visible 20 minutes from the end.  Whether this was due to their inability to stick things out or due to the weather, I’m not sure, although you would have thought that they were used to the latter.  It was the Spurs fans who stayed until the end and relished every second of this away win.  Not quite the 4-0 of Kane, Son and Moura the last time we visited Elland Road, but a new type of Tottenham performance.  Still the same three points, but gained in a very different way.

• Richarlison makes his 250th career Premier League appearance
• Mohammed Kudus scores his first Tottenham goal.
• Mathys Tel’s goal was Tottenham’s 50th scored against Leeds United in the Premier League.
• This was Leeds United’s first home league defeat since 14th September 2024.
• Okafor’s goal was Leeds United’s 800th in the Premier League.