Leeds United took a gigantic leap towards promotion back to the Premier League with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Preston North End at Elland Road on Saturday in the Championship.
Some of the loudest cheers of the afternoon, however, did not come for Manor Solomon or Jayden Bogle’s first-half goals. Instead, they came from the stands when the news filtered through to fans that Sheffield United had surrendered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 to bottom-of-the-table Plymouth Argyle.
Thanks to that result for the Blades, the West Yorkshire outfit are now sat five points clear of third place and only need to rack up seven points from their last four matches to guarantee promotion.
They also have the added insurance of Burnley and Sheffield United still having each other to play later this month, which guarantees that at least one of them will drop more points.
Another one of the biggest roars from the Elland Road stands on Saturday came towards the end of the match when a teasing cross came into the box and was met by the hands of Karl Darlow, who fell onto the floor and removed any danger from the situation, as he continued his Leeds revival.
Why bringing Karl Darlow in has been a masterclass
Whilst some could argue that the English shot-stopper should have been brought into the starting line-up sooner than he was, the former Newcastle United man has been a reassuring figure between the sticks for the Whites.
Illan Meslier simply had to be dropped from the side after his third error that directly led to a goal this season in the 2-1 defeat to Swansea, fumbling a cross that allowed Harry Darling to score.
Daniel Farke replaced him with Darlow for the following match against Luton Town and the experienced colossus has shown his quality in the last three games.
The 34-year-old veteran has proven to be a safe pair of hands in goal, with no thrills or spills, and avoided the kind of controversial moments that have followed Meslier throughout the season.
Appearances
39
3
Goals prevented
-2.73
+0.56
Error led to goal
3
0
Clearances per game
0.9
1.0
Aerial duels won per game
0.5
1.0
Aerial duel success rate
100%
100%
As you can see in the table above, Darlow has been a positive between the sticks with his shot-stopping, compared to Meslier’s underperformance in that department, whilst he has also won twice as many aerial battles per game on average to claim crosses.
These statistics show that Farke has played a masterclass by bringing the Englishman into the team as the new number one because he has been a big upgrade on the French dud on current form, both as a shot-stopper and in terms of the command of his area.
His performances have gained instant respect from the fanbase, who – as shown in the post above – appreciated his cross-claiming efforts against Preston, and he will be hoping to continue this form into the final four matches to propel Leeds to the Premier League.
Darlow, who had only started one league game in more than 18 months at the club prior to the game against Luton, has revived his Elland Road career in recent weeks.
The former Newcastle and Nottingham Forest shot-stopper, however, is not the only Leeds star who has revived his career in West Yorkshire this month, as Patrick Bamford is in a similar boat.
How Patrick Bamford has revived his Leeds career
Prior to the last three Championship games, the former England international had become an afterthought at Elland Road due to his lack of impact on the pitch this season.
Bamford had been an unused substitute in 11 of his previous 19 appearances in the matchday squad in the Championship before that draw with Luton at Kenilworth Road.
TEAMtalk had reported in December that Wrexham and Genoa were both keeping tabs on the £70k-per-week centre-forward’s situation ahead of a possible swoop for his services.
The 31-year-old number nine’s current contract with Leeds is not due to expire until the summer of 2026, though, and this means that an exit from Elland Road this summer is far from guaranteed.
His last few performances off the bench suggest that a move away from the club this year may not be a foregone conclusion, that his prior lack of minutes on the pitch suggested, as he has shown great promise in his cameos.
As you can see in the highlights above, Bamford was incredibly unfortunate not to double the team’s lead against Middlesbrough with 15 minutes to go when he scored a perfectly good goal that was incorrectly ruled out for offside.
The replay showed that the striker timed his run perfectly to receive the pass from Wilfried Gnonto, and he finished equally as impressively, but the linesman got the call wrong – with no VAR to overturn it.
Even without the goal that should have stood, Bamford provided a strong presence at the top end of the pitch in that cameo by winning six of his nine duels in just 17 minutes on the pitch.
Appearances
42
Starts
32
Ground duel success rate
33%
Aerial duel success rate
18%
Duels won per game
1.5
Dribble success rate
31%
Dribbles completed per game
0.3
As you can see in the table above, Joel Piroe – the first-choice centre-forward at Leeds this season – has struggled with the physicality of the Championship this season.
The Dutch marksman, who has scored 15 goals in the league, has been dominated in duels by opposition defenders, losing 74% of his battles overall and only winning 1.5 duels per match.
Bamford, meanwhile, won six duels in just 17 minutes against Middlesbrough and one of his two ground duels in just ten minutes against Preston, which suggests that he could provide more physicality than Piroe.
After that cameo against Preston, Farke told LeedsLive: “You need to handle the pressure and the praise. Everyone senses how much effort Patrick (Bamford) puts in. He deserves all the praise.”
The English attacker appears to have revived his Leeds career, with Farke clearly appreciating the effort the forward puts in on the pitch, and it could even be time to bring him into the starting line-up to repeat the masterclass that has been played with Darlow.
Saved by Bogle: Farke must finally drop 5/10 Leeds dud who lost 67% duels
This poor Leeds United underperformer nearly cost his team dear against Preston North End.
1 ByKelan Sarson