Match Recap: Leeds United 4-3 Fulham

Leeds United picked up their first points of the Premier League season in dramatic fashion, beating fellow Prem new-boys Fulham 4-3.

The Whites started brilliantly, opening the scoring inside five minutes as Kalvin Phillips’ corner kick was flicked on in an aerial duel, dropping for Helder Costa who smashed his volley off the underside of the bar and into the side netting.

Fulham caused problems though, as Hector met a corner cross of his own, with Robin Koch managing to divert the ball over the top. Koch almost scored himself, heading from yet another corner but Areola tipped it over.

But Fulham did equalise, as Koch conceded another penalty, in another arguably harsh call from the referee. Koch slid in to challenge Joe Bryan before trying to pull-out, he makes a small amount of contact with the ball already out of Bryan’s reach, but Bryan went to ground and the ref pointed to the spot.

Mitrovic snuck the penalty kick in low, with Fulham having imposed themselves more and more as the first half went on. Amazingly, Leeds got a penalty of their own moments later, as Joe Bryan pushed Bamford from behind in another silly action from a defender. It’s clear to see that despite penalties being awarded softly or due to hard-lines, VAR doesn’t tend to get involved in such circumstances, at least from our experience.

Mateusz Klich rolled the penalty into the net, sending the keeper the wrong way as he sent the keeper the wrong way as Leeds went into half-time with the lead intact.

The Whites got going very quickly once again, as Patrick Bamford gave Leeds a two-goal cushion six minutes into the second-half. Klich put him through on the left channel, before Bamford set himself and slotted the ball low into the far-right corner.

Bamford turned provider for Leeds’ fourth as he drove past Odoi on the left side before squaring the ball into Costa who was in all sorts of space in the box. He finished emphatically into the top left corner just seven minutes after Leeds’ third.

Fulham were down, but not out, as Bobby Decordova-Reid burst through on the right side before finishing brilliantly across goal from right to left as Fulham ut the pressure back on The Whites.

And it worked, as The Cottagers scored again as Mitrovic met Tete’s cross with a towering header to make it 4-3 after 67 minutes. Fulham came close to an equaliser just one minute later, as Kebano hit the outside of the post.

The game then became rather scrappy, but the most important thing for Leeds was the three points. The Whites now look ahead to next Sunday as Leeds take-on Sheffield United in this season’s solitary Yorkshire derby.