Tottenham Hotspur 1 Leeds United 1: VAR plays its part again as Leeds claim another point — Yorkshire Post 11/5/26

By Stuart Rayner

Monday night was VAR payback time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Leeds United and more so for West Ham United.

The previous day, West Ham had endured a hammer blow when the video assistant referee denied them a stoppage-time point. On Monday night, Thomas Kirk came to their rescue, giving Leeds a penalty at the second time of asking.

Then Kirk denied Spurs a 104th-minute spot kick for a faint scratch on the ball by Lukas Nmecha on James Maddison. This relegation battle is going own to very fine margins.

Below their best, set back by injuries, Leeds nevertheless showed the professionalism and integrity to spoil the party.

Had it not been for a brilliant stoppage-time save by Antonin Kinsky, the goalkeeper hung out to dry by Igor Tudor, the Yorkshireman could have won rather than drawing 1-1.

It was a night of ifs, buts and maybes.

In the comfort zone after having their place in next season's Premier League confirmed by West Ham's defeat, Leeds could not claim to have been Spurs equals in terms of performance, but this time of the season is not about that, if any is.

Denied a first-half penalty by Kirk on the tightest of technicalities, they were granted one in the second, and Dominic Calvet-Lewin put it away to keep Tottenham squirming and the Hammers hoping. They trail Spurs by two points with two games to play, the second of them against a Leeds team who were suffering for the lack of jeopardy in north London.

The team-sheet also exposed the lack of depth in Leeds' squad, then Tottenham tried to as well.

With Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jayden Bogle both missing with hamstring injuries, Daniel James was drafted in at right wing-back. Teenagers Jayden Lienou and Rhys Chadwick were on the bench. Neither came off it.

Not surprisingly, Spurs directed a lot of traffic James' way, with Mathys Tel staying high and wide to drag either him or his Welsh team-mate Joe Rodon into potions they did not want to be.

Needing to win to stay up, where Leeds no longer did, the home players were the hungrier, and dominated the early stages. But by the time James nearly forced a goal in a rare moment of attacking 19 minutes in, the hosts had not had a shot on target.

Pascal Struijk headed wide inside 50 seconds after Leeds kept a long throw-in alive, then Spurs took over.

James played Richarlison onside in the 10th minute, but Rodon used his body well to stop the Brazilian getting on the end of Pedro Porro's pass.

That apart, the "European (Europa League) champions" as the home supporters delighted in reminding Leeds, were much more bark than bite.

James pressed Tel into doing something stupid at his own byline, and only a glancing header from Kevin Danso stopped his pass across the penalty area being a perfect cross for James Justin.

A couple of minutes later Kinsky saved a Rodon header from Brenden Aaronson's cross only partly over the line. It looked as if Leeds might be starting to take encouragement from Spurs' ineffectiveness.

But instead the Londoners put that right.

Karl Darlow unconvincingly punched a Danso long throw but Richarlison's overhead kick response went well wide.

After 26 minutes Tel wriggled through only to be met by a big tackle by Jaka Bijol - comfortably Leeds' best player in the first half, which told a story in itself.

Aaronson did well to smother a Conor Gallagher volley from outside the area.

Randal Kolo Muani was released behind Justin but fortunately for Leeds, what he did with the ball was neither one thing nor t'other. Spurs kept his ball across alive, though, and Rodon had to take the sting out of Richarlison's volley.

Darlow being punished for holding the ball more than eight seconds was indicative of Leeds' doziness, but Struijk was alert to clear Porro's shot from the resulting corner off his lone. After an Ao Tanaka volley over, the full-back put another effort just wide.

Leeds had a video assistant referee check for a penalty in first-half stoppage time when Aaronson played the ball to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who was being pulled by Danso. But Kirk backed up the linesman's late flag with Calvert-Lewin adjudged to be a big toe offside.

Football closes its eyes to the fact the technology is not that accurate.

Six minutes into the second half, with Leeds unchanged and no better, Spurs took the lead.

Bijol flicked Tottenham's seventh corner of the game to Tel, who controlled and curled in a wonderful goal. At that point, with the home crowd pumped up, a comfortable Spurs win looked on the cards.

Richarlison wasted the chance for a second when Kolo Muani beat Sebastiaan Bornauw – fresh on for the injured Struijk – and delivered a ball he volleyed over.

Leeds kept plugging away but did not look like scoring, James shooting harmlessly wide after a one-two with Aaronson shortly before he was substituted in a switch to a 3-5-2 which made them much more competitive.

From nowhere, Leeds found an equaliser.

With Gillett exuding uncertainty throughout, Kirk stepped in where he apparently did not when Richarlison appeared to elbow Bijol at the start of the half.

This time he allowed Spurs to counter-attack whilst Ethan Ampadu laid prone with a head injury. When Kirk called him to the pitchside monitor, Gillett could see it was because Tel had kicked him in the head, in the penalty area.

Amapdu had a massive lump above his left eye by full-time.

With 74 minutes on the clock, Calvert-Lewin hammered a penalty that despite diving the right way, Kinsky could not stop.

With the stadium holding its breath, he fluffed a chance from outside the area 10 minutes later, but the wind had been taken out of Spurs sails. The sight of James Maddison coming on for his first senior appearance since England's game against Bosnia Herzegovina last June reinvigorated them.

But it was asking a lot, even with 16 minutes added to the game.

Roberto De Zerbi was booked as his frustrations boiled over and substitute Sean Longstaff very nearly made them worse.

Played in by Justin, Longstaff hit a shot brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Kinsky, infamously substituted in first half of Tottenham's disasterclass at Atletico Madrid, and failed to get a clean contact on his shot from the corner, looping it over.

Fourteen minutes into a minimum of 13 added minutes, Kirk was in action again, called to adjudicate on a tackle from the excellent Nmecha on Maddison in the penalty area. This time he said no.

Another football match in the relegation battle decided by the barest of margins. Leeds should be very pleased indeed to be out of it.