The weight of expectation, or the malaise of a side whose flame is threatening to flicker out? Only in the fullness of time will we know the answer to that question but whatever the reason, right now, Leeds are threatening to spontaneously combust at precisely the wrong time.
This fairly timid goalless draw may not prove as fatal as it undoubtedly felt when around 30,000 people audibly groaned collectively at full‑time here. Leicester’s surprise defeat at Millwall on Tuesday evening shows nothing is truly over in this remarkable three-way race for automatic promotion until it is over.
But the notion that this was two points dropped for Leeds was a hard feeling to escape. For most of 2024, Daniel Farke’s team have been an unstoppable juggernaut, underlined by the fact they were in pursuit of a 10th consecutive home league victory. In the past three days, however, they have ground to a halt, with defeat at Coventry on Saturday followed by this limp display.
“We’re frustrated and disappointed because we couldn’t take the chance to make a major step in the table,” Farke said post-match. “We didn’t create enough clear-cut chances.”
The fact that his side registered just one shot on target emphasised how off it Leeds were – and this fascinating promotion run‑in has now had another significant twist, this time playing into Ipswich’s hands.
They will go top with victory against Watford on Wednesday evening but for now Leeds do sit second in the table. However, they will feel as though they could have done much more against a Sunderland team with just one win in their past 10 games and whose own season petered out weeks ago.
“I don’t want to go over the top, we have drawn the game, we haven’t won the game,” their interim head coach, Mike Dodds, said.
“We’ve got to take the positives from the game, and there were a lot of positives, but I don’t want to be celebrating draws.”
Dodds’s side, though, certainly did an effective job against a side he described as “the best team in the league”.
Leeds camped in Sunderland’s half for large spells of the opening period, but they had nothing to show for their dominance by the break.
Crysencio Summerville always felt like Leeds’s biggest goal threat, but his effort that was deflected wide after he broke clear into the box was the closest that the hosts got in the first half.
Leeds’ best opportunity of the second period came was when they felt they had a compelling shout for a penalty after Luke O’Nien appeared to handle in the box after a Leeds corner – “It was a clear penalty,” Farke insisted. But the fact that was their biggest chance underlined how tepid they were on the night.
It may yet prove a more significant point than it felt here, but at this moment Leeds will feel as though they have drifted to outsiders in this most compelling of races.
