Monday night was fabulous.
Leeds United beat Newcastle United 4-1 at Elland Road, scoring four goals against a side that arrived in perfectly respectable form, remained unbeaten in the Premier League, and generally provided the sort of evening that makes the journey home feel about 60 per cent shorter.
So, naturally, I would like another one.
Crystal Palace arrive at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon with three points from their opening four Premier League matches, 11 goals conceded and a European fixture in their legs from Thursday night.
Leeds are third.
Leeds are unbeaten.
Leeds have just scored four.
Why can’t Sunday be nice too?
There is, obviously, a dangerous amount of optimism seeping into this introduction. Leeds United have historically treated optimism rather like Godzilla treats metropolitan architecture. You can build something rather lovely, but it is sensible to keep an evacuation route available.
Still.
Newcastle were in better league form when they came to Elland Road on Monday. They left having conceded four.
Palace have been rather obliging visitors here in recent years.
Perhaps we can enjoy ourselves.
Leeds United Are Actually Quite Good at the Moment
This requires acknowledging before anything else.
Leeds United have started the season well.
Not “well considering everything”. Not “well for Leeds”. Just well.
Two wins and two draws from the opening four Premier League matches have given Daniel Farke’s side eight points and third place heading into the weekend. It is the club’s best top-flight start since 2001/02.
The most encouraging part is not necessarily the position.
Four games can produce some extremely silly league tables.
It is how Leeds have accumulated those points.
They have conceded only three league goals. Newcastle were beaten 4-1. Brighton could only manage a draw. Brentford left Elland Road with one point. Even when Leeds have not been spectacular, they have been extremely difficult to beat. Don’t forget the 1-0 away over Forest either.
James Justin perhaps explained the mentality better than anyone.
“The aspiration is to get 40 points – that’s the be-all and end-all,” he said.
It is wonderfully unglamorous.
Nobody needs to start looking at flights to Bilbao. Nobody needs to work out UEFA coefficient permutations. Forty points first. Everything else can wait.
But something quietly reassuring is a newly promoted side refusing to behave like one.
Farke’s move towards a 3-5-2 has made Leeds more physically imposing and increasingly difficult to play through. The midfield has bodies. The wing-backs provide width. There is enough pace around Dominic Calvert-Lewin that Leeds can move from defending into something substantially more unpleasant very quickly.
Then there is Elland Road.
Justin described the crowd as providing “that extra few per cent” needed to reach a loose ball or win a 50/50.
After Monday, that feels less like footballer media training and more like an observable phenomenon.
Newcastle discovered it.
Palace now get their turn.
Palace Have Been Living Two Different Seasons
Crystal Palace’s start is peculiar.
In Europe, things are rather enjoyable.
On Thursday night, Palace beat Polish champions Lech Poznań 4-0 in their Europa League opener. Yéremy Pino scored, Jørgen Strand Larsen continued his excellent recent form, and Palace produced exactly the sort of European evening their supporters presumably spent years imagining.
In the Premier League, however, the numbers are considerably less decorative.
Three points.
Three defeats from four.
Six scored.
Eleven conceded.
That last number is particularly interesting for Leeds.
Palace currently have the worst defensive record in the Premier League and have conceded at least twice in ten consecutive league matches stretching back into last season.
Ipswich scored three at Selhurst Park last weekend.
Manchester City scored four.
And Palace now have to travel north after playing on Thursday night. That doesn’t automatically leave them exhausted. Professional footballers are generally rather good at running around, and clubs playing in Europe prepare specifically for these rhythms.
But it changes the preparation.
Leeds played Newcastle on Monday. Palace played Lech on Thursday.
There is a difference between six days of recovery and preparation and roughly two and a half.
Pierre Sage knows what awaits.
He called Elland Road a “special atmosphere” and described the supporters as “really crazy”.
Correct.
Welcome.
There Is Still Plenty Here That Can Hurt Leeds
This is where the optimism needs a reality check.
Palace might be 16th, but treating them like a side Leeds can just turn up and beat would be ridiculous.
Farke certainly is not doing that.
“When I speak about Crystal Palace, I can’t speak with more respect about them,” he said. “They have done exceptionally well, winning titles in recent seasons.”
He also suggested Palace could quite easily have collected seven or nine points from their opening fixtures.
There is a case to be made that their position exaggerates how poor they have been.
Pino was outstanding against Lech, scoring the opener and winning a penalty. Adam Wharton remains one of the more interesting young midfielders in English football, while Strand Larsen has scored four times in his last three appearances across all competitions.
The latter becomes particularly important given Leeds’ defensive situation.
Joe Rodon is out with a hamstring injury. Harry Wilson and Mateo Joseph are unavailable too.
Palace have problems of their own. Dean Henderson is injured, Axel Disasi is suspended, and Jean-Philippe Mateta is out. Ismaïla Sarr has returned but is not yet considered ready for 90 minutes.
Neither manager is selecting from a perfect deck.
That makes the midfield especially intriguing.
Ao Tanaka was excellent against Newcastle. Anton Stach has recovered from his difficult summer to return to the Germany squad. Ethan Ampadu remains the sort of footballer whose importance becomes most apparent when he is not there.
Opposite them is Wharton, with Quinten Timber likely nearby and Pino and Daichi Kamada looking for spaces ahead.
That Palace side has plenty of football.
Leeds should respect it.
Then they should make their afternoon absolutely horrible.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin Can Make a Little Bit of History
Another number is lurking around Sunday.
Six.
He scored against Palace and became the first Leeds player since Arthur Hydes in 1932 to score in six consecutive home league games.
Ninety-four years.
That is not a record you accidentally wander into.
Calvert-Lewin’s Leeds career has gradually become one of the club’s more satisfying stories. His injury problems at Everton were substantial, costing him 529 days across four seasons, and his arrival inevitably came with questions about whether his body would allow him to become the striker Leeds needed.
Last season produced 15 goals in all competitions, 14 in the Premier League.
He has three in four league games this season and four in six across all competitions.
His reward has been a recall to England.
Farke described him as being “like a good wine”.
More importantly for Sunday, Palace appear to be his preferred accompanying cheese.
Calvert-Lewin has scored seven career goals against them.
No pressure, Dominic.
And Leeds Have Enjoyed This Fixture at Elland Road
History cannot kick a football.
It cannot mark Pino, stop Strand Larsen or put the ball beyond Walter Benítez.
But patterns are still worth noticing.
Leeds have won seven of their last eight home meetings with Palace.
There is something about this particular fixture at Elland Road that has generally suited Leeds, and Sunday’s circumstances hardly discourage the idea that it could happen again.
Palace have the European turnaround.
They are missing Henderson, Disasi and Mateta.
They have already conceded 11 league goals.
Leeds have had almost a week to prepare.
They have conceded three.
They have just beaten Newcastle 4-1.
Right now, one can only assume Farke will be desperate to turn the opening stages into an examination of exactly how much Palace recovered between Thursday night and Sunday afternoon.
Make them defend.
Make them turn.
Get Okafor moving into the channels.
Get Calvert-Lewin occupying centre-backs.
Make every second ball an argument.
Palace have quality when they can settle into possession. So do not let them settle.
Elland Road rarely improves with politeness.
A Brief Nigel Martyn Peace Treaty
One thing everyone can agree on. Nigel Martyn was magnificent. Palace made him Britain’s first £1 million goalkeeper in 1989; Leeds broke the British goalkeeper transfer record again, signing him for £2.25 million in 1996. He played 349 times for Palace and 241 times for Leeds, reaching an FA Cup final with one and Champions League and UEFA Cup semi-finals with the other. So if you see a Palace supporter in Leeds on Sunday, or you are a Palace supporter wandering around our city, there is really no need to be a fool. Football provides enough nonsense already. Shake hands, discuss one of the finest goalkeepers either club has ever had and peacefully disagree about who loved him more.
Then, obviously, spend 90 minutes wanting completely different things.
Why Can’t We Do It Again?
This is ultimately where I keep arriving.
Not at certainty.
At possibility.
Something about Monday night felt important precisely because Newcastle were not dreadful. Leeds did not simply stumble across a broken football team and collect three points from the wreckage.
They imposed themselves.
They scored four.
They made Elland Road feel enormous.
Sunday presents a slightly different challenge.
Palace arrive with confidence from Europe, dangerous attacking players and a manager who clearly understands the environment his side are entering.
But they also arrive with three league points, the division’s leakiest defence and considerably less recovery time.
Leeds arrive third, unbeaten and with a striker who cannot currently stop scoring at Elland Road.
This does not guarantee anything.
It does, however, allow us to ask for something.
I want another aggressive Leeds performance. I want Palace to discover immediately that Thursday night in Europe has been replaced by Sunday afternoon in West Yorkshire. I want Tanaka snapping into midfield challenges, Bogle charging forward, Calvert-Lewin occupying half the penalty area and Elland Road gradually sensing that another visitor might be there for the taking.
Monday was fabulous.
Sunday afternoon is sitting there waiting for somebody to make it fabulous too.
So why not Leeds?
Why not again?
Why can’t the Mighty Whites send another visiting team home wondering what exactly just happened?
We have been very good against Palace at Elland Road.
We have been very good at Elland Road.
One more before the international break would do rather nicely.
And if Dominic Calvert-Lewin wants to break a 94-year-old goalscoring record while we’re there, I suppose we can accommodate that too.
doragon sports 