Leeds United 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Premier League - as it happened

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Ross Heppenstall was at Elland Road, and his report is in. Here it is! Thanks for reading this MBM.

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Daniel Farke talks to TNT Sports. “First impressions … disappointed … but if you put the result to the side … we were the better side today in all aspects … we dominated … gutted for them that we didn’t win anything … one or two mistakes we were punished … after one or two days the boys can be proud … deflected strikes … their goalkeeper was man of the match probably … football is sometimes like this … the lads should be proud of their performance … against such a good side … we can take many positives out of this game … a top performance and an unlucky result … if we deliver this performance I’m sure we will be fine in the end.”

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Thomas Frank – who has won against Daniel Farke for the first time – speaks to TNT Sports. “Huge respect for Leeds and Elland Road and Daniel … they haven’t lost in more than a year at home … so we knew it would be difficult … our performance was good offensively … scored some good goals … good situations … kept Leeds at a minimum … until the 80th minute, when it was a little bit carnage and we needed a couple of saves from Vicario … the mentality and character is the major foundation if you want to achieve great things … there are so many difficult opponents … there will be so many setbacks in games … you need to relentlessly keep going … that’s the core of any great team … I’m so pleased for [Mathys Tel] … I’m so happy for [Mohammed Kudus] … it was Xavi Simons’ best game … more to come.”

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Mathys Tel speaks to TNT. “It was a tough game for us, the opponents played very well … we deserved to win … we fought until the end … I worked this week a lot about finishing … so I’m very happy … I will keep going … we work together and win together … that’s what we showed today … we did it for the team and for the fans.”

Mohammed Kudus adds: “As an attacker it boosts your confidence to score … big credit to all the team … everyone put a lot of effort … I want to give Mathys big credit … big, big applause to him … I’m a big fan of how he comports himself … I’m happy he’s got his first goal and many more to come … we go to represent our countries and come back with top focus … there are a lot of games and points to fight for.”

Tel is then asked to give Kudus his player-of-the-match award … which he does, but only after pretending awhile to keep it for himself. When he does hand it over, the pair laugh heartily and give each other a big hug. A sweet and infectious moment that’s impossible to watch without smiling too. Tottenham are building a team here.

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That was a fun match, and an impressive performance from Spurs. On TNT Sports, Lucy Ward named Mohammed Kudus as her man of the match, an assessment that’s more than fair, though Xavi Simons staked a claim for the award too. Thomas Frank has got Spurs moving in the right direction again, and this win takes them into second, for a couple of hours at least. Everyone celebrating despite all the rain. Meanwhile it’s more misery for Leeds against Spurs, and they taste defeat in the league at home for the first time in over a year. But they put in a good shift too, and look well equipped to stay in the Premier League.

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FULL TIME: Leeds United 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Another day, another Spurs win over Leeds. That’s five in a row now.

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90 min +6: Replays show Richarlison treading on Struijk’s foot before the defender fell over. But neither VAR nor referee show any interest in revisiting the incident. You’ve seen them given, but it would have been very soft, and Struijk was on the way down anyway.

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90 min +5: … and Struijk goes over, claiming a penalty. But he’s not getting one. Everyone on the Leeds bench up in arms.

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90 min +4: … so having said that, Calvert-Lewin wins a header on the edge of the box. It drops to Piroe, who whips a first-time shot towards the bottom right. Vicario turns it around the post. Great play all round, and a big corner coming up. It’s sent into the mixer and Struijk can’t get a header on target from six yards. But it took a flick off Udogie, so another’s about to come in from the left …

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90 min +2: Struijk competes for a header in the Leeds box but Danso is in his way, and not giving an inch. Leeds not creating very much and time is running out.

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90 min +1: Ampadu flings in a long throw from the right. After some more head tennis, the ball drops to Longstaff, who demonstrates how the stuff Matthew Le Tissier used to make look so easy isn’t that easy. His languid volley disappears into the stand.

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90 min: Some head tennis in the Spurs box. Calvert-Lewin wins a header on the edge of the six-yard box, but he’s all over Danso and the whistle goes. Then Kudus is replaced by Johnson. There will be six additional minutes.

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89 min: Justin comes on for Bogle.

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88 min: … but before Porro takes the corner, he picks up something thrown at him by a fool. The officials aware. Then he hoicks the corner straight out of play.

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87 min: Richarlison advances down the right. He scuffs a shot across the face of goal and out of play, but seems it took a nick off Ampadu, so it’ll be a corner for Spurs. Porro to take.

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86 min: Harrison tries to find Nmecha with a curled pass down the left, but Vicario reads the danger and comes to the edge of his box to claim. But Leeds come again, Calvert-Lewin hooking around Van de Ven on the byline to keep the ball alive. However all his hard work is for nought, as Bogle turbo-blooters his cross behind the goal.

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85 min: Leeds have gone to a back three, pushing more men forward in their desperate search for an equaliser. So Spurs make a defensive change, replacing Odobert with Danso.

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83 min: There’s not a lot going on right now, which will suit Spurs just fine.

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81 min: Leeds are up against it here, because TNT have just flashed up this stat: Spurs are the only team in the entire Premier League not to have conceded a goal in the last 15 minutes of any match so far this season.

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79 min: Now it’s Leeds making a double change. Off go Gudmundsson and Okafor, on come Piroe and Nmecha.

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78 min: Bogle strips Richarlison and strides towards the Spurs box. He’s got options either side, but decides to shoot instead. It’s ambitious, which is the best we can say for that.

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77 min: Tanaka takes a couple of slick flicks to set Leeds off on the attack, down the inside-right channel. Calvert-Lewin nearly releases Harrison into the box but the latter can’t control. Tanaka has looked lively since coming on.

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75 min: Calvert-Lewin comes clattering into Romero, knee up. Not sure whether he’s caught his opponent full in the fruitbowl, or just (!) the chest, but Romero felt that either way. No booking.

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73 min: Tel goes down, but gets up quickly enough when he realises he’s being substituted anyway. Simons also departs, with Richarlison and Sarr coming on.

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71 min: Tanaka glides in from the left and finds Longstaff in the middle of the park, 25 yards from goal. Longstaff takes up possession and swivels 180, rifling an instant shot inches wide of the bottom-left corner. Not sure Vicario was getting to that had it been on target. Close to a second Leeds equaliser.

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69 min: … so having praised Simons, he carelessly ships possession to Harrison, who drives purposefully towards the Spurs box. He lays off to Bogle, who can’t decide whether to cross or shoot, and achieves neither.

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67 min: Leeds make a double change, replacing Aaronson and Stach with Harrison and Tanaka.

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66 min: Simons has been superb, showcasing his wily stylings from the get-go. He shovels a clever pass down the inside-right channel, releasing Porro into the box. Porro should do better than shanking a dismal effort into the side netting.

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64 min: Romero and Okafor tangle horns over some garden-variety nonsense in midfield. A philosophical back-and-forth, nose to nose. It threatens to boil over, but their pals pull them apart. Both go into the book.

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63 min: The rain continues to hammer down. For the record, Thomas Frank doesn’t have his hood up either. He’s a fair bit happier than his equally soaked counterpart, though.

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61 min: Tottenham suddenly put their foot to the floor, and Elland Road fell a bit quiet as a result. The home crowd rally and find their voice again as Longstaff launches long into the Spurs box, but Rodon can’t keep his header down, the ball sailing harmlessly into the stand behind.

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59 min: Spurs come so close to a third, Simons flicking Odobert into space down the left. Udogie fizzes a low drive through the six-yard box that somehow evades both Kudus and Tel.

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58 min: Another Spurs goal that’s taken a small flick en route to its destination. This time off the sliding Struijk. To be honest, it was probably going in anyway.

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GOAL! Leeds United 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Kudus 57)

Porro sends Kudus scampering down the right. Kudus cuts inside, putting Gudmundsson on his backside. As the defender sprawls, Kudus reaches the right-hand edge of the D, swivels and fires into the bottom right, past the wrong-footed Darlow!

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Updated at 08.52 EDT

57 min: … but Daniel Farke signally refuses to put up his hood. Steve McClaren has an awful lot to answer for.

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56 min: It’s tipping down, by the way. Coming down in stair-rods.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Updated at 08.55 EDT

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.

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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.

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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.”

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More half-time entertainment. A schadenfreude special for Leeds fans.

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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.

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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.

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45 min +3: Other than that – a reasonably significant caveat, to be fair – this half is petering out.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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®.

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40 min: Aaronson dribbles down the right and is unceremoniously flipped into the air by the sliding Palhinha, who goes into the book.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Updated at 08.48 EDT

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 …

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