Leeds United claimed their first win in six matches on Saturday, halting an improving Tottenham Hotspur’s momentum.

Here are our Scout Notes from Elland Road.

GAME OF TWO HALVES

It was the proverbial game of two halves in West Yorkshire on Saturday.

Tottenham Hotspur looked the more composed of the two sides before the break, albeit in an opening 45 minutes lacking in quality goalmouth action. Omar Marmoush (£7.0m), disappointing again, scuffed probably the best of the visitors’ chances, while Archie Gray (£4.9m) – redeployed in midfield after Pedro Porro‘s (£5.3m) recall – couldn’t stretch to meet a Mohammed Kudus (£6.6m) cross.

After the break, though, a complete turnaround. Leeds came out aggressively and Spurs couldn’t respond at all, registering only one shot between minutes 33 and 89.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) was at the heart of most of Leeds’ best chances. Failing with two bites of the cherry from a corner (Nico Elvedi (£4.5m) couldn’t redirect the last of those efforts in), he then teed up Ao Tanaka (£4.9m) for a shot that the midfielder spooned over. Calvert-Lewin perhaps could have got a shot away before that, and that was the same criticism of him later in the game when he had the chance to make it 2-0.

Sean Longstaff (£4.8m) also had a shot brilliantly tipped over by Antonin Kinsky (£4.4m) before substitute Noah Okafor (£5.7m) pounced on a loose ball to settle the match.

Above: Players in Leeds v Spurs sorted by xGI

“Two different games in the same game. In the first half, okay, we played not the best game, but we were alive. We attacked, we created two, three clear chances to score, and we didn’t suffer anything.

“In the second half, I don’t know why, but we suffered too much, and we deserved to lose the game. We didn’t win any duels, we didn’t win any one-to-ones. There was space to play, and we didn’t take the right decisions, take the right positions. We didn’t show personality, we didn’t show what we are, who we are.” – Roberto De Zerbi

Leeds deserved the win based on the second half, then (even De Zerbi said as much above), but that would be conveniently ignoring the fact that they could/should have been down to 10 men for a first-half Jayden Bogle (£4.8m) foul. De Zerbi, graciously, didn’t make too much of that after the game.

There’s a lingering question mark over Spurs’ ability to compete with real physical teams, such as Brentford and Leeds, but this hopefully was just a stutter step for the Lilywhites, after recent improved performances and results.

The next three fixtures give them an excellent chance of rebounding:

TEL INJURY + WHY MADDISON WAS UNUSED

Mathys Tel (£5.6m) was on the receiving end of Bogle’s studs-up tackle, and a painful blow it was too. Trying to continue after treatment, the winger admitted defeat just before the break.

“A bad injury, and now, we have to make the medical check. In the next day, we will know what is the problem.” – Roberto De Zerbi on Mathys Tel

Meanwhile, there was a second successive benching for James Maddison (£6.2m). Again, like last weekend, he failed to make it onto the field.

We wrote after the Coventry City game that fitness, not ability, was the hindrance to him returning to the FPL radar. Sadly, true to form, his next game ended after 50 minutes. He’s not been risked since.

Even youngster Luca Williams-Barnett (£4.4m) – who incidentally is one to keep an eye on – got on before him on Saturday.

“Maddison started to work with the group on Thursday but not total training. Today and yesterday, he worked just one day, one-day-and-a-half. It could be a solution [to bring him on], yes, but at that moment I thought Kudus was too tired. And in that position, Luca [Williams-Barnett], in one-to-one, the speed is better than James. But in the future, James, when James is fit, we already know he plays, no?” – Roberto De Zerbi

GUDMUNDSSON, STACH, CALVERT-LEWIN + OKAFOR FITNESS UPDATES

Sticking with all things medical, Leeds’ Gabriel Gudmundsson (£4.5m) had to come off at half-time with a hamstring issue. The theatrically named Melvin Bard (£4.5m) came on in his place, and did very well.

“Gabi had problems with his hamstring, so it was not possible for him to keep going. I always prefer to have Gabi available, don’t get me wrong, [but] I had a good feeling straight away because Melvin had his best week in training since he was together with us.

“I hope that it’s not too bad with Gabi, and to hope to have him back on the other side of the international break.” – Daniel Farke on Gabriel Gudmundsson

The injuries have been more at the top end of the pitch for Leeds recently. Their usual attacking trident, Calvert-Lewin, Okafor and Anton Stach (£6.0m), have all had recurring issues in the last few weeks. Calvert-Lewin played through the pain barrier and lasted 90 minutes but Okafor was limited to a (successful!) cameo and Stach missed out entirely.

Daniel Farke hopes the international break comes at a good time for all three players, although Calvert-Lewin does now go away with England.

“The hope is that [Calvert-Lewin] can use the next two weeks either to train properly and then, if he gets game time, also to play, but also that he has consistency and he doesn’t miss out with problems with his foot again.

“I think this international break comes, in general, at a good time. Hopefully, Anton will come back soon and then Noah will be fully fit and Dominic gets rid of his problems. I think it’s a good moment for us to have this international break.” – Daniel Farke

“We played him relatively long for his standard against Man United. And since this moment, he was always struggling with adductor problems. He was ruled out in the last session before the last game. At the beginning of the week, the doctor said, ‘No chance to involve him, he’s back on the other side of the international break’. But credit to our medical department and also to Noah. He has worked very, very disciplined – 24 hours a day, more or less, to be available.

“Yesterday, with a few concerns, our medical department said, ‘Boss, listen, if you want to use him, you have to make sure that you stay unbelievably disciplined. You can’t bring him on longer than 15 or 20 minutes. This is what the muscle can’t handle. But if you want to do this, and Noah feels also right, then perhaps you can do this’.” – Daniel Farke on Noah Okafor

FARKE EXPLAINS SYSTEM TWEAK

Despite Okafor and Stach not being able to start, Farke didn’t opt for Harry Wilson (£6.2m) and Daniel James (£4.9m). This was despite the pair’s positive showings at Bournemouth.

Instead, we saw Lukas Nmecha (£5.3m) and Longstaff come in, and more of a 3-4-3/3-5-2 hybrid.

“De Zerbi’s teams and especially Tottenham play very special in the build-up. They always want to give you traps, and if you go into the trap, then you open the centre and then they bypass you. We needed today a third player in midfield who also has the legs to cover lots of distance in order to control their mobile and very technically gifted midfield players. This is what we wanted to do.

“And on the other hand, also to have with Lukas a bit more of a direct winger, a bit of a striker type, who also takes a bit of the attention away from Dominic because Dominic also didn’t have the easiest spell with several injuries, and also Lukas looked sharp in training, scored many goals.

“We wanted to be very flexible at times in the pressing more or less out of a 3-5-2 at times and once we’re sitting deeper, then traditionally, more or less a 3-4-3 or you can also label it 5-4-1.” – Daniel Farke

It did sound quite ‘horses for courses’, then, and in truth, neither Longstaff nor Nmecha were that great. Wilson came on to play a part in the match-winner, too.

“I think the away game at Bournemouth was probably his best game for us in a Leeds shirt. It was a bit of a tough call to leave him out because it felt a bit like he’s gaining a bit of momentum, but it was necessary today just due to tactical reasons.” – Daniel Farke on Harry Wilson

We can maybe expect a mix of systems in the weeks ahead, with more attacking set-ups in Gameweeks 12, 14, 16 and 18:

DEFENDERS>ATTACKERS

The usual suspects delivered at the rear, with Jan Paul van Hecke (£5.1m) and Tarik Muharemovic (£5.1m) banking DefCon points again. No FPL asset in any position can better Muharemovic’s total of 14 such points in 2026/27.

Van Hecke – on a run of eight matches without a complete blank – nearly added a goal in injury time, too.

Bogle, meanwhile, exhibited his attacking threat at the other end, registering six shots and chances created combined. It was he who teed up Longstaff for his excellent chance.

This game pretty much just underscored what we have thought of both teams for a while now. While their respective attacks splutter (particularly Tottenham’s, with Marmoush and Dominic Solanke (£5.8m) poor), they can boast of two of the Premier League’s better defences.

It’s not just the DefCons: these two clubs are in the top five for lowest expected goals conceded (xGC) this term: