Match Recap: Leeds United 3-0 Southampton

Leeds United put on a stellar second-half performance to beat Southampton 3-0 under the lights at Elland Road.

But the first-half was not an easy one for The Whites to battle through. Southampton had the first chance of the game from a wide free-kick from the right toward the back post. Vestergaard lost his man and headed the ball from a more central area, skewing it wide.

It was very difficult for Leeds to break out of the Southampton press, with the first real chance coming on 25 minutes as Raphinha finally got some time on the ball, taking on his man before cutting the ball back to Roberts in the box whose shot skied over the crossbar.

Southampton were awarded a penalty-kick as Tella went down under the challenge of Llorente. However, VAR checks revealed that Tella instigated the contact and the spot-kick was overturned.

A huge chance came Raphinha’s way as half-time approached, as he was put through on goal by Dallas following a Southampton set-piece. The Brazilian came inside and was ready to pull the trigger but Romeu came out of nowhere with a sublime sliding challenge to take the chance away and keep things level.

A strange moment followed for Southampton as they tried to catch out the Leeds defence from a central free-kick, with Ward-Prowse slipping the ball through to Che Adams who put the ball in the net. However, the referee did not blow the whistle until after the ball had been played by Ward-Prowse and demanded a re-take before the ball crossed the line.

But Leeds came out of the break flying at Patrick Bamford was slipped through on the right channel by Tyler Roberts. From the edge of the box, Bamford drilled the ball across the goalkeeper and it nestled into the far corner of the next.

A similar chance to his previous opportunity in the first-half, Raphinha drove down the left moments later and squared the ball to Roberts who had only the keeper to beat as he ran on to the ball. But Roberts’ swerved shot went just wide of the right corner.

Another couple of chances followed as Bamford had a great chance on the right side of the box having received it from Dallas. He went for power with his weaker foot and the keeper saved it. Diego Llorente should’ve scored on the hour mark as he won the ball in the midfield and continued to run toward goal, Raphinha opened some room on the left and cut the ball back to the Spaniard who fired straight at the keeper from close range.

Leeds managed to double their lead with 20 minutes to go after Helder Costa drove down the right-wing, cutting in and opening up some space on the edge of the box to find Dallas to prodded the ball into the bottom left corner from the edge of the penalty area.

The Whites weren’t done there, as Raphinha topped the victory off with a wonderful free-kick whipped up and over the wall and into the bottom left corner to secure the three points for the home side while dedicating his goal to Brazilian legend Ronaldinho after the passing of his mother.

All-in-all tonight’s game didn't quite reflect the balance of power in this game. The first-half was quite ugly from a Leeds perspective in difficult circumstances. The opening goal from Bamford made a big difference as The Whites had more attacking freedom following the broken deadlock. We now look ahead to the weekend as we return to Elland Road as Leeds United take on Aston Villa.