Leeds United 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur: Kudus stars as Spurs end Leeds’ unbeaten streak at home | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur beat Leeds United 2-1 to end their impressive unbeaten run at Elland Road and rise to second in the Premier League.

A gripping first half saw Mathys Tel’s deflected strike cancelled out before going close to a second by heading against the bar, either side of Noah Okafor’s equalizer.

Leeds were made to rue several missed chances to extend their unbeaten run at home to 24 matches by Mohammed Kudus steering the winner into the bottom right three minutes before the hour mark.

As it happened

The first chance deservedly fell to Leeds seven minutes in, when former Spurs centre back Joe Rodon headed against the post from Sean Langstaff’s free kick. Guglielmo Vicario left himself stranded and the goal gaping.

After a turnover in the middle, Kudus showed great vision to slot a through ball into the right channel for Tel to try his luck from the angle and he reaped the reward as a deflection steered the ball past Karl Darlow.

Nine minutes prior to the equalizer, Spurs lost possession on the edge of the box, gifting Dominic Calvert-Lewin a chance to score his fourth goal in nine against them but he lashed a wild shot over.

Just two minutes later, Spurs broke away with three against two. Destiny Udogie squared to Kudus inside the box, but he was leaning back, and his effort was well wide.

He was made to rue the missed chance, as Brenden Aaronson picked up the ball, darted infield from the right and hit a shot right at Vicario but the goalkeeper parried straight to Okafor who easily tapped in.

Tel almost doubled his tally to put Spurs back in the driving seat as he rose to divert Wilson Odobert’s floated cross in from the left against the bar, the last action of a first half that just didn’t stop.

Much like the first half, Leeds started brightly in the second.

Calvert-Lewin spurned back-to-back chances to put Leeds ahead for the second time, spinning inside the penalty area and seeing his shot saved by the feet of Vicario before missing Stach’s cross from the right, attempting a diving header.

Yet Spurs regained the lead after left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson failed to deal with the danger of Kudus bearing down on the ball, as he ran inside and fired a low shot the other way – deflecting of the leg of Pascal Struijk this time around.

Spurs capitalised on space in the midfield just after the hour mark, as Xavi Simons exchanged passes with Kudus before a deft flick over the top to Pedro Porro, but the Spaniard scuffed the volley wide.

Leeds applied late pressure on the visitors as substitute Joël Piroe’s instinctive snapshot was pushed away by the left glove of Vicario in the 92nd minute, but the much-rotated Spurs beat Leeds’ to end their remarkable run at home.

Leeds leaking space in the middle

Daniel Farke has been seen to adopt a more direct approach at times this season, unlike his usual – and at times overly ambitious – desire to dominate proceedings in his previous campaigns in the top flight with Leeds and Norwich City.

But with 23 minutes on the clock his side were caught too high up the pitch.

Leeds committed a high line with their midfield chasing a high ball into the Spurs half and were far from prepared when the ever-reliable Anton Stach was caught in possession on halfway.

It was the same story in the second half, as Kudus and Simons regularly found space to exploit with their talent driving forward with the ball and picking out teammates in tighter spaces.

Leeds will need to reduce the space between their midfield and defense during turnovers of possession if they are to

Spurs survive squad rotation

Some eyebrows were raised as Thomas Frank made six changes to the side that recovered a midweek 2-2 draw against Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League.

Notable names on the bench included midfielders Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, and in-form striker Richarlison.

But their defensive shape withstood the early pressure from Leeds, who have been so strong at home, and they broke forward into the space with successions of slick passes and fluid movement.

Kudus was at the heart of the action and involved in both goals, while Simons’ understanding as to how Frank sets up his teams appears to be growing.

As for Tel, he very much repaid his manager’s faith in a very active first half and was unlucky not to have scored two going into the break.

He was clinical in converting just 0.12 xG into a goal as well as hitting the bar, arguably just what Spurs need to turn their promise going forward into goals.

Frank is beginning to stamp the style he used at Brentford, as Spurs beat Leeds deservedly to sit second before the 3pm kick-offs.

The lineups