Leeds United 0 Crystal Palace 0: Spoils shared in stodgy Premier League stalemate — Yorkshire Post 20/9/26
By Tom Coates
The story of Leeds United’s Premier League draw with Crystal
Palace
The sense of ease that descended upon Elland Road prior to
Leeds United’s meeting with Crystal Palace was almost unsettling.
A 4-1 rout of Newcastle United, under the Monday night
lights, had pundits purring and fans dreaming. Praise for the Whites flooded
radio airwaves and TV shows, with the word ‘Europe’ creeping into conversations
both in studios and on sofas.
Palace, having lost three of their opening four league games
and played in the Europa League just three days prior, almost had the look of
lambs to the slaughter pre-match.
For Leeds, it was a case of ensuring the narrative building
around them continued to play out. For Palace, it was a case of rewriting
theirs. As the sides played out a relatively drab goalless draw, you could
argue neither succeeded.
First half
Both sides made tentative enquiries early doors, knocking
gently on the door rather than forcing entry. Tarik Muharemović headed over
from an Anton Stach corner and then had to make an excellent recovery challenge
when Jorgen Strand Larsen was sent through the heart of the Leeds backline by
Quinten Timber.
The opening exchanges were undeniably stodgy and in need of
some magic to light the Elland Road fire. There was hope for some when a
long-throw was helped along to the feet of Ao Tanaka, who snatched at it and
blasted over on the half-volley.
At the other end, Strand Larsen managed to draw Muharemović
into committing before spinning and releasing Daichi Kamada, who could only
force James Trafford into a simple save.
Noah Okafor was the man making the biggest effort to breathe
life into the game, looking lively down the left flank against Richards. He
darted away only to see Jaydee Canvot hook his cross behind before it could
find a lurking Jayden Bogle.
The half-time whistle proved merciful in the end, bringing
an end to a 45 minutes in which Leeds had thoroughly underwhelmed.
Second half
Leeds, however, emerged for the second half looking just as
leggy and disjointed as they had for significant portions of the first.
Trafford had to be at full stretch to palm away a Yeremy
Pino free-kick and Kamada saw a drilled effort whistle agonisingly wide of the
post.
Palace briefly appeared to have opened the scoring when
Justin could only deflect an Anan Khalaili cross into the path of Mitchell, who
rifled home from close range. Fortunately for the Whites, VAR intervened and
judged Khalaili to have drifted offside.
After a week of effusive praise and an England call-up,
Dominic Calvert-Lewin had barely been involved in the affair as it crept
towards the hour mark. He eventually popped up on the end of a Justin cross,
although was denied by Walter Benitez at point blank range.
With the game still deadlocked in the dying embers, both
sets of fans were hoping for a late rally from their respective sides.
Kamada sent a header wide of the post and Muharemović had to
thwart former Whites loanee Eddie Nketiah, but they were the only late chances
as a game that will not go down in the history books petered out.
While it may have been uninspiring, it was a draw that sent
Leeds into the first international break of the campaign with their unbeaten
league record intact.
