And with that, I’ll leave you in the hands of Daniel Harris, who is covering the big one at Anfield. Ta-ra!
Match report: Leeds 1-5 Crystal Palace
Louise Taylor was at Elland Road to watch Palace’s startling victory. Here’s what she made of it.
Michael Olise 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SdQGVV09oW
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 9, 2023
When Twitter really comes into its own
— Leeds United (@LUFC) April 9, 2023
That’s only the second time in Palace’s history that they have scored five away from home in a top-flight match. And it’s the first time they’ve done so against 11 men.
“And Palace are back in 12th,” says Vibhanshu Bisht. “The world is normal again.”
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 29 | 43 | 72 |
| 2 | Man City | 29 | 48 | 67 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 29 | 27 | 56 |
| 4 | Man Utd | 29 | 7 | 56 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 30 | 13 | 53 |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 30 | 1 | 47 |
| 7 | Brighton | 28 | 16 | 46 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 28 | 15 | 43 |
| 9 | Brentford | 30 | 7 | 43 |
| 10 | Fulham | 29 | -1 | 39 |
| 11 | Chelsea | 30 | -2 | 39 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 30 | -11 | 33 |
| 13 | Wolverhampton | 30 | -18 | 31 |
| 14 | West Ham | 29 | -12 | 30 |
| 15 | AFC Bournemouth | 30 | -29 | 30 |
| 16 | Leeds | 30 | -15 | 29 |
| 17 | Everton | 30 | -20 | 27 |
| 18 | Nottm Forest | 30 | -30 | 27 |
| 19 | Leicester | 30 | -12 | 25 |
| 20 | Southampton | 30 | -27 | 23 |
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Full time: Leeds 1-5 Crystal Palace
Roy Hodgson is back - and this time he’s doing things differently. After a slow start Palace eventually picked up where they left off against Leicester last weekend, blowing Leeds away with some devastating attacking football. Michael Olise and Ebere Eze, who combined beautifully for the gamebreaking third goal, were marvellous.
Leeds started the game superbly, but they conceded an equaliser on the stroke of half-time and collapsed alarmingly in the second half.
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90+1 min Gnonto is booked for booting Olise.
89 min Eze spins a lovely pass round McArthur, who misses the opportunity to put Mateta through on goal and then runs into trouble. Eze and Olise have been marvellous today.
87 min Olise punches the ground after missing an excellent chance to make it six. He charged away from Kristensen and Gnonto on the right, twisted Struijk inside out in the area … and then blasted over the bar with his right foot. Shame as it would have been a beautiful goal.
87 min: Palace substitution Nathaniel Clyne replaces Joel Ward.
86 min McKennie is booked for pulling back Eze, who was moving menacingly towards goal once again.
84 min This is a stinker of a result for Leeds, whose next game is at home to Liverpool. Palace, by contrast, have an easy run-in and are six points clear of the relegation place. I’m not saying they can’t go down – we all remember 1992-93 – but it would be a pretty sizeable shock.
82 min Rutter goes down in the area after a challenge from Milivojevic, but nobody is interested.
81 min: Palace substitutions James McArthur, Luka Milivojevic and Jean-Philippe Mateta replace Ayew, Schlupp and Doucoure.
79 min: Leeds substitution Georginio Rutter replaces Patrick Bamford, whose goal seems a long, long time ago.
79 min It took an age for VAR to confirm that goal, even though it was obvious to the naked eye that Ayew was onside. Anyway.
Will Hughes’ shot from the edge of the D was blocked, with the ball dribbling through to the unmarked Ayew on the penalty spot. He looked like he thought he was offside, but swept the ball over Meslier just in case. The flag stayed down, and replays showed Kristensen was playing him onside. Palace lead 5-1!
GOAL! Leeds 1-5 Crystal Palace (Ayew 77)
And that’s Blockbusters.
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77 min What a weird game this has been. Leeds were so impressive for the first half an hour or so, but since half-time they have been a minor shambles.
76 min Meslier, caught in no man’s land, eventually does well to dive at Ayew’s feet and push the ball away.
75 min There’s a huge game at Anfield this afternoon. Daniel Harris has the team news ahead of Liverpool v Arsenal.
74 min: Substitution for Palace Will Hughes replaces Odsonne Edouard.
72 min Roca is annoyed after being penalised for a follow through on Edouard. Leeds look confused, frustrated and not a little hacked off.
Palace make it four with a devastating counter-attack. Ebere Eze, who is having a storming game, led a four-on-two break, running 60 yards before guiding the ball to Edouard on the left side of the area. He took a touch and rammed a low shot into the far corner with his left foot. What an emphatic finish.
[Edit: it was Olise who made the goal, not Eze]
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GOAL! Leeds 1-4 Crystal Palace (Edouard 69)
Oh my word!
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69 min Finally a bit of pressure from Leeds. Rodrigo’s clever reverse pass finds Bamford in the area, but Mitchell does really well to dispossess him. There’s an appeal for handball but there was nothing in it.
69 min These are the two quickfire goals that have put Palace in charge of this match.
JORDAN AYEW & EBERECHI EZE! 🌟
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 9, 2023
Crystal Palace have turned it around! 3-1! 🔄 pic.twitter.com/vO0bjS25Cd
67 min Rodrigo tries to release Gnonto on the left but overhits the pass for a goalkick.
64 min The atmosphere is really flat now, certainly by Elland Road standards, and Palace are managing the game comfortably.
61 min “Palace playing better than Chelsea...” says Jeff Sax. “Hodgson definitely can help there.”
60 min: Triple substitution for Leeds Rodrigo, Rasmus Kristensen and Wilfried Gnoto replace Aaronson, Sinisterra and Firpo.
59 min Leeds look shellshocked. No surprise, really: they were well on top for most of the first half, and now they are 3-1 down.
58 min When Ebere Eze is good, he is seriously good.
57 min At the age of 75, Roy Hodgson – the high priest of Two Banks of Four – is having an epiphany: Palace have scoroed five in 150 minutes since he returned, and it should have been a lot more.
Eze, just inside the Leeds half, swept the ball out to Olise and charged towards the penalty area. Olise waited, waited a bit longer and then guided a perfect return pass into the area. Eze didn’t have to break stride and poked the ball under Meslier from eight yards. That’s a lovely goal.
GOAL! Leeds 1-3 Crystal Palace (Eze 55)
Ebere Eze scores a brilliant goal to put Palace 3-1 up!
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Olise, on the right, teased Struijk and then flipped a lovely cross towards the far post. Ayew got in front of Ayling, who was sleeping, and powered a header that the diving Meslier could only help into the net. That’s a very good finish.
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GOAL! Leeds 1-2 Crystal Palace (Ayew 53)
It’s been coming!
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52 min Olise moves elegantly away from Struijk and lifts a dangerous cross that is flicked across the six-yard box by the head of Edouard. That looked like a chance. Palace have started the second half brilliantly.
50 min Ward is booked for a hefty challenge on Bamford. He’s shocked by the decision, because he won the ball, but his studs scraped Bamford’s shin in the follow through.
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48 min Doucoure’s cross is punched away bravely by Meslier, who is clattered by the diving Schlupp a split-second later. They’re both okay.
47 min Ayling dives in and is beaten easily by Ayew, who moves into the area and pokes a cutback that is put behind by Koch.
46 min Peep peep! Patrick Bamford begins the second half.
Half-time reading
Half time: Leeds 1-1 Crystal Palace
It’s all square after an interesting first half at Elland Road. Patrick Bamford gave Leeds a deserved lead with an expert header, but Palace – helped by some excellent goalkeeping from Sam Johnstone – stayed in the game and equalised on the stroke of half-time through Marc Guehi.
Eze’s free-kick from the right hit the shoulder of Schlupp, who missed an attempted header, and looped into the six-yard box. Guehi reacted really smartly to beat the diving Meslier to the ball and cushion a volley into the net. There’s a VAR check for offside, but he’s fine and the goal stands.
Marc GUEHI equalises for Palace! ⚡
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 9, 2023
GAME ON! pic.twitter.com/pylw09z4gG
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GOAL! Leeds 1-1 Crystal Palace (Guehi 45+1)
Palace have been a threat at set-pieces, and now they’re level.
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44 min Firpo is booked for a foul on Olise, who curls the resulting free-kick straight down Meslier’s throat.
43 min “I agree that Leeds are fun,” says Kári Tulinius. “They aren’t the what-am-I-even-seeing psychedelic spectacle of the Bielsa years, but neither are they the I-have-had-too-much-coffee stomach churning Marsch experience. Gracia has managed to retain the directness in attack with a more measured approach to defending.”
42 min Olise runs onto a neat return pass from Eze but then, under pressure from a defender, pokes tamely through to Meslier. Wasn’t much of a chance.
40 min: Another good save by Johnstone! Aaronson’s excellent free-kick from deep on the right is met by Struijk at the near post, 12 yards out. His flicked header – not dissimilar to Bamford’s goal – is pawed away to his right by the diving Johnstone.
38 min Johnstone dashes from his line to beat Sinisterra to Roca’s clever scooped pass.
37 min The impressive Aaronson finds space between the lines and gives the ball to Harrison. His cross is booted clear. To be honest this entry is just an excuse to point out that Aaronson has played really well as the No10.
34 min Olise’s outswinging corner is headed across goal and just wide by Guehi. That was a pretty decent chance, though he had to fight to get to the ball ahead of Koch.
33 min Eze flicks a nice pass through to Edouard in the inside-left channel. His shot is blocked by Koch – a real-life Koch block – and then Schlupp wins a corner.
32 min It’s a more even game now, and actually Palace have had slightly more of the ball in this first half. But the shots on target tell a more accurate story: Leeds 6-1 Palace.
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31 min “Bamford celebrations,” begins Jeremy Boyce. “I think that they are all overjoyed that he’s finally scored a ‘proper’ goal, not a pen, or something that went in off his arse. The only way is up!”
Yeah, I think I got a bit carried away, though it was still a well-worked goal. And you’d have to be quite the Livia Soprano figure not to wish Bamford well.
29 min The resulting corner is met by Koch near the penalty spot, and his header is comfortably held by the falling Johnstone.
29 min: Good save by Johnstone! Harrison whips the free-kick towards the far corner, and Johnstone flies to his right to make an excellent fingertip save. He really is far too good to be a back-up keeper.
28 min Firpo is fouled just outside the area by Doucoure. The free-kick is to the right of centre – don’t ask me what Firpo was doing there – and therefore perfect for Jack Harrison.
26 min: Off the line by McKennie! The next corner is punched away unconvincingly by Meslier towards the penalty spot. Ayew heads it back towards goal and McKennie kicks clear from inside the six-yard box. There was a defender behind him, though I’m not certain he would have cleared it.
25 min: Schlupp hits the post! My word, how did that not go in. Olise curled a superb inswinging corner from the right into the six-yard box. It dipped onto the head of Schlupp, who saw it late and mistimed a header that bounced onto the inside of the near post.
How did Jeffrey Schlupp MISS that?! 😳 pic.twitter.com/1gycGJRmyv
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 9, 2023
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24 min “Is it worth asking why we expect VAR to work already?”says Robert Smithson. “It’s barely five years old. Per Wilson passim, it took arguably 142 years to make the offiside law one that improved the game as a spectacle. Obviously it’s easier to say this when it’s not my team being shafted (since I don’t support a club side any more) but I don’t think it’s impossible that within another 10 years there’s a system in place that works in all but a handful of edge cases... As an aside, the reason I don’t support a team is because I was a PSG fan and then after the QSI buyout I found that I didn’t care any more - if Qatar buys United and you find yourself in a similar boat please write about it.”
My biggest objection to VAR is what it does to the game as a spectacle rather than the number of errors, though I might be in a minority on that. The moment when Scotland qualified for Euro 2020, and what should have been the most euphoric 10 seconds of David Marshall’s life were instead spent waiting for approval from a jobsworth, symbolised everything I dislike about it. Anyway, let’s talk about something more positive. Leeds are playing; Leeds are fun.
23 min Leeds fully deserve to be ahead; they’ve started the match superbly.
How they enjoyed that one. Aaronson swung an outswinging corner towards the near post, where Bamford ran off Mitchell and steered a masterful header into the net via the far post.
The gleeful manner in which Bamford celebrated with the coaching stuff suggests that was a planned routine – nothing especially groundbreaking, but very effective. Bamford started at the far post, then suddenly darted away from Mitchel and into space. Aaronson picked him out, and Bamford did the needful.
WHAT A HEADER! 💥
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 9, 2023
Patrick Bamford's 50th goal for Leeds! 👏 pic.twitter.com/hD2AwFJ8RM
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GOAL! Leeds 1-0 Crystal Palace (Bamford 21)
A classic quite good training-ground routine from Leeds!
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19 min A quiet few minutes.
16 min “Does the EPL have more controversies than the other top leagues in Europe and South America?” says Desmond Dorman. “Seems so to me. If the PGMOL continues to issue apologies at the present rate, the league could lose credibility.”
It does feel like VAR is more of a shambles in England, but that might just be because we spend most of our time focussing on this league.
15 min It’s been a pulsating start from Leeds, who are getting a lot of joy in wide positions.
13 min: Chance for Leeds! Ayling puts over a brilliant cross from the right towards Sinisterra, who gets in front of Ward but mistimes his stooping header. The ball, which was going wide, hits Ward and flies straight at Johnstone.
13 min After good play from Harrison, Aaronson’s very deep cross is headed straight at Johnstone by Sinisterra.
12 min Palace played some scintillating stuff against Leicester last week. We haven’t seen any of that yet, mainly because they haven’t had much of the ball.
10 min It’s easy to think of Javi Gracia as just another ex-Watford manager, but he actually did really well there and his overall record is excellent. With each passing week, he looks an increasingly shrewd appointment by Leeds.
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9 min “I have an idea,” writes Chashuman. “Every time VAR makes a clear and obvious error, it gets a yellow card. Two yellows in a week equals a red. A red equals VAR being suspended for a week of fixtures. Then for one blessed week everybody can go back to spilling their drink in joy/apoplectic fury without having to worry about sponging it up and squeezing it back into the glass.”
8 min And now Bamford shoots not far wide from distance.
7 min Sinisterra wallops a long-range drive that is punched away by Johnstone. A comfortable save.
6 min: Fine save by Johnstone! Leeds have started superbly here. Firpo runs onto a return pass from Sinisterra and cuts the ball back towards Aaronson at the near post. He improvises a flicked shot behind his standing leg that is superbly saved by Johnstone, plunging low to his left. He showed great reactions there.
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3 min “Leeds fan in south of France here,” says Jeremy Boyce. “Good to see the sun’s out at Fortress Elland, was Roy just having his after lunch nap there? Like a horse, standing up? The Peacocks seem to have got some mojo back under Javi, today could be key in their pursuit of points, it’s all looking better since Mr Skinny Pants left, three points today could make all the difference. Looks like the going is good, so let’s get going!”
2 min: Just wide from Sinisterra! An early chance for Leeds. Ayling’s cross from the right was sliced wretchedly by Guehi on the edge of the box. The ball ran across the area to Sinisterra, who took a touch and whistled a low drive back across goal that went this far wide.
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2 min “Hallo Rob,” says Shane O’Leary. “I think that my VAR wheeze could restore real-time action to the game, save Simon’s drink and, almost certainly save humanity. We just link the VAR gubbins to an AI gizmo. Super speed computing has the goal confirmed or denied before Simon has left his seat and, in due course, the VAR linked AI will infect all of its cybernetic chums. Naturally, a footy obsessed AI community will be too busy checking the football results arguing amongst themselves and emailing you to exterminate human life. You can thank me later.”
Did you ask ChatGPT how to fix VAR?
1 min After a minute’s applause in memory of Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight, who died while supporting Leeds in Istanbul 23 years ago, Crystal Palace get the match under way.
The players are in the tunnel. Let’s have a reminder of the teams.
Leeds (4-2-3-1) Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Struijk, Firpo; McKennie, Roca; Harrison, Aaronson, Sinisterra; Bamford.
Substitutes: Robles, Cooper, Forshaw, Kristensen, Summerville, Greenwood, Georginio, Rodrigo, Gnonto.
Crystal Palace (4-1-4-1) Johnstone; Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Doucoure; Olise, Eze, Schlupp, Ayew; Edouard.
Substitutes: Whitworth, Tomkins, Clyne, Riedewald, Milivojevic, McArthur, Hughes, Lokonga, Mateta.
Referee Simon Hooper.
Previously on…
This was the year Palace finished third in the old Division One. It helped having Ian Wright up front, though there was more to the team than his goals. And Steve Coppell was such a smart manager – when they won at Nottingham Forest, he countered the threat of midfield runners like Roy Keane, Steve Hodge and Garry Parker by playing two sweepers. I’d love to see a full video of that game.
“VAR,” says Simon Dunsby. “We are still having exactly the same conversations. It’s just now we are disagreeing with two or three people who have looked at it in slow motion and made probably the wrong decision, rather than one person who has looked at it in real time and probably made the wrong decision. And whenever a goal is scored you can’t really celebrate, you have to wait for the flipping check to be done. You don’t even get to save your drink as there’s still the initial celebrations that spill it, but your drink doesn’t get reinstated when the goal gets cancelled. It’s a farce.”
I think the most succinct argument against VAR came from Kenny Cunningham on Off the Ball: “Has it improved football as a spectacle?” The answer – clear and obvious – is no. But it enhances the reality TV culture of modern football, so there’s no chance of it being put back in its box. We’re stuck with it – and stuck with it in an imperfect form, because there’s no easy fix.
Oh VAR, so much to answer for
Team news
Leeds are unchanged. Palace make two changes, both enforced: Sam Johnstone and Jordan Ayew replace the injured pair of Vicente Guaita and Wilfried Zaha. Johnstone is making his Premier League debut for Palace.
📋 Your #LUFC Starting XI... pic.twitter.com/t2OvqeQPJl
— Leeds United (@LUFC) April 9, 2023
To take on Leeds 👊
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) April 9, 2023
🧡 @shophumm#CPFC | #LEECRY
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Leeds v Crystal Palace at Elland Road. Both sides are excellent adverts for the healing power of three points. The world looks a better place for both teams after wins over Nottingham Forest and Leicester in their most recent game, and for the first time in a while they are looking up rather than down.
Javi Gracia has quietly stabilised Leeds, taking 10 points from six games as manager, and Roy Hodgson’s return to Palace had the desired effect when they beat Leicester last weekend. A win for either side today would put them top of the table – the nine-team relegation mini-league, that is. But 12th sure beats 19th, which is where Leeds were three weeks ago.
Kick off 2pm.
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