Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds United: Premier League safety will not change us, says Edmund Riemer — Yorkshire Post 11/5/26

By Stuart Rayner

Leeds United's place in next season's Premier League was confirmed on Sunday, but assistant manager Edmund Riemer insists you will not notice the difference when the team takes to the field at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday.

Arsenal's dramatic 1-0 win at West Ham United means the East London side can no longer catch the Whites, and must now fight it out with Spurs to avoid joining Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers in next season's Championship.

But Riemer says it is a strength of his boss Daniel Farke that he has been able to create an atmosphere at Leeds' Thorp Arch training base whereby the players respond to good times and bad in much the same way.

"It was massive that you created this atmosphere, that you need to always be level-headed," said Reimer.

"If the emotion gets too high, you need to calm everything down and if it doesn't go our way, I think that's his big strength, that he's always like he is.

"He doesn't change, he's always doing it in this way, and if you're not successful, he doesn't start panicking and doing it the other way.

"He's always level-headed and always realistic and always spot-on in what he does."

Farke often speaks about Leeds as an "emotional" club but there has been a quiet confidence about them this season, and consistent progress too. After starting the season with a win, they have only once dropped below their initial target of a point per game, in matchdays 12 and 13 – also the only time they have been in the relegation zone.

Now they have 43 points from 35 matches, with nine still to play for.

Even Farke's absence from the pre-match press conference was not about trying to do something different. He stayed away from Thorp Arch because of illness on Friday, leaving assistant Riemer to deputise.

But Riemer, who played for Farke at Lippstadt, and was his assistant at Borussia Dortmund II, Norwich City and Borussia Monchengladbach, says the manager's calm demeanour can sometimes drop, and the pair do not try to play "good cop, bad cop" on the training pitches.

"He can get flustered if in training sessions things are not going right, that's 100 per cent for sure, but he always is controlled and can keep his emotions and control his emotions,” commented Riemer.

"I would definitely label myself as a good guy, but I wouldn't class the manager as a bad guy, although if it comes to being a bad guy, he sure as hell can be a bad guy."

Noah Okafor has been ruled out of Monday's 8pm kick-off with a calf strain, and Gabriel Gudmundsson is missing with a hamstring injury. Pascal Struijk is expected to be fit despite a hip problem, as is Farke.

"We're in a great space," said Riemer. "You see the bunch of players, I think also the fans, and everybody identifies with this team, and this is what we want to build on.

"It's an honest team, It's never a lack of effort.

"If they're under pressure, they always step up, and I'm pretty sure the last three games they will be completely on it as well.

"It's one of the basic things that you want as a manager, as a team.

"We are tough to beat, we can be good on the ball, we can create set-pieces for pretty much every situation. We want a team that can do it all, and I think this is what we have created

"It's been a brilliant season, especially going into the season knowing how tough the Premier League is. Also having worked in the Bundesliga, it's a very tough and crazy league so it's good that we broke the cycle."

It looked like Leeds would go into Monday’s game with safety still not assured but Callum Wilson’s stoppage-time equaliser at Arsenal was chalked off when Barnsley video assistant referee Darren England sent referee Chris Kavanagh to review the decision at pitchside.

Victory keeps Arsenal in the driving seat to win the Premier League.