Author: Michael James

Leeds United 1 – Manchester United 1 – HT 0-0 

B. Aaronson (62′)  Matheus Cunha (65′) 

Assists – 

P. Struijk (62′)        J. Zirkzee (65′) 

Venue: Elland Road Attendance: 36,909 

After a great month in December where we managed to stay unbeaten and open a gap from the bottom teams, could we continue that into 2026, playing one of our fierce rivals Manchester United? 

Manchester United’s poor run of form continued at Elland Road, but head coach Ruben Amorim had Matheus Cunha to thank for his side not suffering even more damage against Leeds. 

Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed a first-half effort against the post for the in-form hosts before Brenden Aaronson finished superbly with a low, 62nd-minute effort. 

At that stage, Amorim was in the firing line after his side had failed to beat bottom-of-the-table Wolves at Old Trafford on Tuesday. 

However, against opponents who had two days less to prepare, Cunha levelled three minutes later when he ran on to a pass from substitute Joshua Zirkzee and slid a shot underneath advancing Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri. 

It was only the Brazilian’s fourth goal since his £62.5m summer move from Wolves and came at a time when Amorim is without four key attacking players because of a combination of injury and international duty. 

Not that Leeds will care about that given their lack of preparation time. 

Noah Okafor forced a full length save out of Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens with a spectacular overhead kick and visiting heads were in hands when Benjamin Sesko, who is struggling to make an impact, turned Zirkzee’s cut-back wide from six yards. 

Cunha, who had a goal ruled out for offside much earlier in the contest, also fired against a post late on. 

The point extends Leeds‘s unbeaten run to seven games, their longest since 2001, and takes them eight points clear of the relegation zone. 

For the visitors though, it was yet another opportunity to move into fourth spot, albeit only for a matter of hours, wasted. 

So, another important point and continue our unbeaten run. This is great to see that we are competing against the teams in the top of league and should enable us to stay in Premier League. 

 Marching On Together.    

 League position 16th after 20 games. 

Leeds United 1 – Blackburn Rovers 1  HT 0-0

P. Struijk (88′ pen) D. Batth (90′)

Assists

J. Rankin-Costello (90′)

Venue: Elland Road Attendance: 36,645

Welcome to 2025 and can Leeds continue their fine form to get promotion back to the Premiership?

First match of the New Year is a Yorkshire / Lancashire rivalry.

Danny Batth bundled in an injury-time equaliser within minutes of a controversial Pascal Struijk penalty opener as Blackburn Rovers denied Championship leaders Leeds United victory in a pulsating finish at Elland Road.

Struijk coolly stroked home what seemed likely to be the winner from the spot in an underwhelming match of very few chances after Dominic Hyam was adjudged to have felled substitute Mateo Joseph.

But a far-post corner led to promotion hopefuls Rovers drawing level within two minutes and prevented Leeds from winning a 10th successive home league game when Batth reacted quickest to score from close range from a Hyam header.

The centre-back’s intervention means Leeds remain three points clear at the top of the table having missed the chance to extend their lead to five over third-placed Sheffield United, who play at Sunderland in the late Wednesday night kick-off.

Leeds came close to snatching victory in 11 minutes of stoppage time but goalkeeper Aynsley Pears made a brilliant save to keep out a fine Max Wober volley.

The dramatic ending was in stark contrast to an otherwise uneventful New Year’s Day fixture which produced a rare draw between the sides, the first time in 16 matches that the meeting has not had an outright winner.

Well not the way we wanted to start the New Year, with 70% of possession and just the one goal. As I’ve mention before, win your home games and pick up points away, so this is like two points drops, especially conceding so late in the game.

At least we start the New Year still in 1st place, onwards and upwards.

Marching On Together.

League position 1st after 25 games – After 25 games last season, Leeds were 4th.