Leeds United 4 Newcastle United 1: Money does not talk as Whites shout their credentials — Yorkshire Post 14/9/26

By Stuart Rayner

"All that money and you're not very good," sang the Leeds United fans.

Well, not quite, but I will leave how the sentence ended to your imagination.

The point was that a 4-1 win at Elland Road made the home team look far more likely to break English football's glass ceiling than the supposed richest club in the world, Newcastle United.

Leeds' first three goals were all deflected, but you would be hard-pushed to argue the scoreline was not a fair reflection of a very one-sided game.

They should be annoyed at the one, but will soon get over it.

Of course, one swallow does not make a spring, but the home team are building a momentum right now whilst others are trying to find their feet.

Because whilst the Magpies have gone backwards in 2026, the opposite is true of Leeds.

People like to paint the Premier League as just a list of the country's wealthiest clubs but it is not quite that straight-forward. Having money is certainly a massive help, but you do have to spend it wisely.

Leeds have not exactly perpetuated Yorkshire's hard-won reputation for being careful with our cash, but whereas they have spent on upgrades across an upwardly-mobile team, Newcastle have replaced key players jumping ship with punts on the future.

Leeds had thrown half-time leads away in their previous two games, but as soon as Dominic Calvert-Lewin put them 3-0 up in first-half stoppage time, there was never any doubt about who would win.

Lukas Hornicek, the goalkeeper Newcastle turned to when they opted out of an auction for James Trafford, was playing well and still he could not hold the tide back.

Leeds had been on it from minute one, Anton Stach winning a corner inside 40 seconds after Jayden Bogle clipped the ball down the inside-right channel for him.

The Whites thought they had a good shout for a penalty when the ball bounced up onto the outstretched hand of Mathiad Fernandez-Pardo as the visitors got the ball away, but referee Michael Salizbury thought not.

Ethan Ampadu got hold of a shot from distance, but thumped it into the unfortunate Calvert-Lewin.

But it was Bogle most catching the eye in white, and he forced Hornicek's best save, the goalkeeper getting down low when the wing-back hooked a shot around a defender blocking his view.

Midway through the first half, Bogle ran into the inside-left channel, only for Hornicek to tip his shot over the bar two-handed.

Newcastle had their moments, Yoane Wisse catching Trafford dwelling on the ball a couple of times and James Justin forced into some good defending when the forward looked for Fernandez-Pardo in the area.

But it felt like a goal was coming at the other end.

So it proved, but not before Nico Elvedi had an airshot from Stach's flick-on and Noah Okafor had a shot deflected wide.

Ao Tanaka's 32nd-minute goal was fortunate, his team's lead not.

The Japan midfielder's shot deflected right off Sean Steur – an early substitute for the injured Nico Gonzalez – and left of Lewis Miley to beat the understandably flat-footed Hornicek.

Importantly, one quickly brought two, Calvert-Lewin converting a much cleaner chance when he headed in a good cross delivered when Justin – getting forward as he loves to from right-sided centre-back – was played in. That said, the ball brushed off Bogle, who was credited with the goal.

It could have been three minutes later but for Hornicek's double save from Gudmundsson and Calvert-Lewin.

Although it needed some excellent defending from Tarik Muharemovic to stop Wissa capitalising on Tanaka's poor touch, Leeds got a reassuring third as the game ticked into first-half stoppage time.

With the ball played to him in the inside-left channel, he forced the ball past a diving defender and the goalkeeper.

Stach ought to have scored a fourth in the 55th minute, winning the ball in Newcastle's penalty area, putting Hornicek down and somehow finding the wrong side of the netting.

But it was only a temporary setback. When Sven Botman headed Ampadu's long throw his way, Noah Okafor hit the rising ball sweetly past the goalkeeper.

Joe Willock should have pulled one back after some scruffy defending in the 72nd minute, but dropped his effort onto the crossbar, Trafford and Muharemovic both got away with some ugly miskicks and Willock had a chipped effort saved.

Eventually their sloppiness paid, Bazzoumana Toure finding the net in the 90th minute after Tino Livramento put the ball in.

In another sign that not everything was going Leeds' way, the important Gudmundsson picked up another injury to grant Melvin Bard a home and a Premier League debut which saw him create a chance fellow substitute Daniel James had blocked.

Gonzalez's withdrawal with concussion – we assume, no one gets told – did at least work out for Sean Longstaff, getting an unexpected run-out against his boyhood club as a sixth substitute.

James, running from right wing-back to inside-left as he tends to in this role he is learning, fired a shot over in stoppage time.

Especially at clubs as passionate as these two, vibes can count for something. Newcastle's are not great the moment, Leeds are pretty good.