Leeds United knew that going back to Elland Road, they would have to put on a performance for their home fans. The defeat to Chelsea at Wembley dampened the move around the club for the last few days.
In the build up to the match, Daniel Farke made sure to tell the players to focus on the Premier League. And days before the game, Leeds captain Ethan Ampadu gave a rallying cry for his teammates to show up for the fans on Friday night.
And within the first eight minutes, the home side took the lead through Anton Stach. He hit a thunderous drive from outside the box past the keeper. There were no more goals in the first period after that, but the Whites hit two in quick succession within 12 minutes of the second half.
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Noah Okafor continued his fine form since his return, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored his 12th league goal of the season to seal the win. Burnley did pull one back in the 71st minute, but it was too late.
Clarets interim boss spoke to Sky Sports in the post-match press conference, saying how difficult it was in the opening 20 minutes of the game.
“I knew this game could go one of two ways after the last 24 hours. The shock of it got to the group. I had a feeling it could go a little bit like that.
“The first 20 to 25 minutes, we looked a little bit shell-shocked. We grew into the game a little bit more. And then we started the second half pretty well. But you can’t make those errors. Then you’re always up against it.
“We showed little bits after them. But what I’ve said to the guys and it’s been the case all season, we cannot wait to go one or two down to start thinking: now we’ll start. That’s a mentality thing, a confidence thing. That’s something we need to keep working on. The goal now is to win a game between now and the end of the season.
“It’s not my job to beat them up, they’ve been through enough at this moment in time. We need to learn quickly about things like that.”
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Daniel Farke’s men made the pressure count
Going into the game, it seemed like all the pressure in the world was on Leeds’ shoulders. They were the first club to play going into the weekend ahead of their relegation rivals. They knew any slip up against Burnley would drag them right back into the dog fight. However, they pulled through and the home crowd did their job to motivate the players. The atmosphere in the opening minutes of the game was loud and intense, just like how the players were on the field. A win and three points is job done for Farke, who will keenly wait for this weekend’s round of results.
