Both Leeds United’s senior sides continued impressive starts to the new campaign with positive results on Sunday afternoon.
For Daniel Farke’s men, a goalless draw with Crystal Palace extends the Whites’ unbeaten run to five games at the beginning of the new Premier League term. United now head into the international break sitting fifth in the early season standings, having collected nine points from a possible 15.
After the highs of dismantling of Newcastle United under the Elland Road lights previously, Leeds had chances against the Eagles but were forced to settle with the draw.
Chatting with LUTV after the full-time whistle, Tarik Muharemović said: “Obviously, we are happy with the point, with the clean sheet. At the end, we are still unbeaten in the Premier League. We can go happy into the international break but still we know we can do much, much better.
“I think it was obviously not one of the best games we played but we all know also this can happen in football. We will keep going and show even more of our qualities. Look, obviously, I wish I could win every game. So, I wish I could take every week three points. I know that is football. We have to take it. For a football player, it is always better to have all three points. Today it is how it is.”
Onto Simon Wood’s Women’s team and after taking 12 points from the opening four FA WNL Division One North, scoring 19 goals in the process, United made the short trip to face West Yorkshire rivals Bradford City away from home.
Leeds continued the scintillating form with a 2-0 victory over the Bantams. Chloe Dixon was involved in the first before Alice Hughes extended the advantage, maintaining a three-point gap to second placed Halifax Women.
“A massive win,” Hughes told LUTV. “We will look back at the end of the season no matter what happens and look at that as a big moment. Obviously, we have started in the league really, really well. But I think to be able to put in a performance like that with 10 players, it adds another layer of confidence and resilience.
“As we keep saying each week, it is one week at a time and that is all we are focusing on. I think the momentum is always important but we will take one challenge at a time and keep going that way.”
With no Under-18s league fixture over the weekend, the sole Academy game saw Scott Gardner’s Under-21s cruise past Newcastle United Under-21s at York’s LNER Community Stadium. Josh McDonald’s first-half finish got the ball rolling for the Whites before Freddie Lane’s fourth goal in three matches sealed the win after the break.
Reflecting on the victory, Wales international Jayden Lienou explained: “I thought it was a good team performance, it was very mature and we stuck together well to the end, got the clean sheet, and that leads us well into Tuesday.
“We have spoken a lot with Scott, the main goal is to try and get over the line and we have done that today. I think it was a good team performance and we have got the three points. I think we just put the game to bed. It gave us a real grip on the game and they lost all hope. We have spoken a lot as a defensive unit in training about conceding less goals and today we obviously got a clean sheet.”
How does this week look?
While it is the international break, our Under-21s are in action on Tuesday evening as they face Sky Bet League One outfit Barnsley in the EFL Trophy opener at Oakwell. The fixture is live on Sky Sports and live on LUTV for those outside of the UK and Ireland.
On Sunday, our Women travel to Bradford once more, this time in FA WNL Cup action. The Whites sit top of Group T after victories over Halifax Women and Huddersfield Town and will be looking to make it three from three in the competition.
