New year, new optimism as Leeds United claim crucial win against Burnley

After catching Covid-19, Jack Harrison’s form deserted him so badly Marcelo Bielsa picked teams without him; Stuart Dallas did not hit the heights set in a player-of-the-season campaign as he dealt with the death of a close friend in September; Junior Firpo struggled as many South Americans do when first pitched into English football and got the virus too; big summer signing Dan James struggled to shoulder the burden when Patrick Bamford was amongst many key players missing games with injury.

January to January is fairly irrelevant to the football calendar, yet every new year offers optimism, especially when the old one has its last fortnight lopped off by coronavirus. The Leeds who saw off Burnley 3-1 at Elland Road felt a world away from the side which limped out of 2021 with a 7-0 defeat at Manchester City and a 4-1 against Arsenal.

Harrison scored his first Premier League goal since May’s trip to Burnley; Dallas marked his 250th Leeds appearance with the decisive second; Firpo oozed confidence in his best Whites game; substitute James instantly improved them and got a goal too.

Leeds even tested their own mettle by conceding an equaliser. Bamford, Kalvin Phillips, Liam Cooper, Rodrigo, Pascal Struijk, Jamie Shackleton, Charlie Cresswell and Cody Drameh were missing but against a team who examine more rigorously than most, they were bursting with the right kind of fight.

If you were unsure how much beating struggling opposition meant you could see it as Bielsa hugged his assistant Pablo Quiroga as James’s stoppage-time header squeezed through Wayne Hennessey, and hear it in the delirium from the stands at full-time.

Games in hand (Burnley have two on Leeds) mean league tables have to be studied more carefully but an eight-point cushion over the Clarets – and the relegation zone – is far more comfortable.

“Every week you have to prove yourself again,” Bielsa warned in the killjoy way managers must. Burnley have a history of digging themselves out of holes, Watford will probably sack their manager soon because they have not done so for weeks. Newcastle United will treat the transfer window like a Brewster’s Millions remake.

But yesterday should be the start of Leeds feeling better about themselves and as long as last season’s ninth-placed team performs somewhere near what it is capable of, another Premier League season should be forthcoming.

Raphinha was inches from a goal of the season contender from just inside Burnley’s half; Joe Gelhardt, maker of James’s goal, continues to excite; Elland Road remains deafeningly supportive.

Burnley’s mindset was clear in the 24th minute when they showed no intention of retrieving the ball for their own throw-in, leaving Tyler Roberts to do it. At one point the Kop loudly counted how many seconds – 18, they reckoned - it took Hennessey to take a goalkick. Minutes later Leeds were standing around as Lennon frantically fetched the ball. Goals really do change games.

Leeds’s had been coming, though it took 39 minutes.

Roberts’s eagerness to get the ball back had been behind earlier chances, swooping on Ashley Westwood’s pass across the back to win a corner which resulted in Dallas’s shot at Hennessey. When Roberts won it again, Raphinha grazed the crossbar.

Roberts’s eagerness had cost him a booking and a ban for the league game at West Ham United after fouling Matt Lowton. Diego Llorente got the same punishment and worse later.

But Roberts is at centre-forward to score and fluffed his big chance, heading wide from Luke Ayling’s cross. He also shot at Hennessey when one-on-one.

Firpo was bubbling too, forcing Hennessey to save his backheel, then popping up on the right to win another corner.

Denied by Hennessey from his left-footed shot, Harrison beat him from the rebound with his right to break the deadlock.

Even with Leeds bossing it, Illan Meslier saved with his shins point-blank from Wood, running onto a cross from Charlie Taylor.

Wood, who was not exactly welcomed back to Elland Road with open arms, swept another Taylor cross just over in first-half stoppage time so the 54th-minute equaliser was hardly out of the blue. Llorente fouled Cornet, who curled in the free-kick before running over to goad the Kop despite referee Paul Tierney telling him not to. A plastic bottle hit Tarkowski’s head.

Leeds fans have to be careful – two incidents of objects thrown, one of homophobic chanting and another of alleged racism are blotting the copybook of a club magnificently supported during the last four home games.

No one felt that support more than Gelhardt. Combine the excitement around him with desperation to get back in front and perhaps a bit of (harsh) relief that it was Roberts making way and it sounded as if Bielsa was bringing on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, not a 19-year-old with two Premier League starts and a goal.

James soon followed and in the 63rd minute Hennessey cut out his cross as Gelhardt slid in. When the teenager was unable to stretch to another James delivery, Raphinha hit the side netting from a tight but makeable angle.

Five minutes later, Raphinha and Mateusz Klich worked a corner for Dallas to bend in a shot that looked to have secured a win as pleasing as it was hard fought. James confirmed it by converting a Gelhardt’s centre.

After December’s doom and injury-thickened gloom, it really did feel like a fresh start.