One of these starting XIs cost nearly £500million and the other barely £120m. Yet once you get past Arsenal, there is very little to choose between so many teams in this strange Premier League season.
For teams who usually aim no higher than upper mid-table, it is time to dream. For the wealthiest who usually look towards Europe, it might be a long, cold winter.
Leeds substitute Noah Okafor scored the only goal barely a minute after coming on, ending Tottenham’s mini-revival and leave the visitors angry that Jayden Bogle avoided a red card for a dreadful challenge on Mathys Tel. James Trafford saved Jan Paul van Hecke’s header late on to preserve the points.
The yo-yo nature of football narrative means Spurs can expect a fresh inquest and much of their transfer business remains baffling. A whole heap of players, acquired at huge cost, all in the good/very good bracket and largely interchangeable among each other.
But past Arsenal, who will surely retain the title with relative ease, the league is so hard to call. Teams are now so well coached and opponents analysed so thoroughly that gaining an edge is fiendishly tough. Arsenal won the title not by blowing sides away but by having talented players drilled to within an inch of their lives and by doing all this stuff better than everyone else.
Tottenham would hate to have study their neighbours but in a league that rewards science over art, it is probably the only way forward.
Leeds United leapfrogged Tottenham into the top half of the Premier League table
Roberto De Zerbi saw his side’s three-game winning run come to an end at Elland Road
Leeds are planning to expand Elland Road, but the stadium must not lose its raw essence
Every summer, they do it. They tweak, fiddle and fuss. They preach about high bars, mic up officials and apologise to angry managers.
They have even changed the name of their organisation from PGMOL to Pro Ref, but they will never remove the controversy that VAR causes nearly every weekend.
Towards the end of the first half, Mathys Tel screamed in pain after Jayden Bogle felled him. Replays showed Bogle’s studs make a solid contact with the Frenchman’s ankle but after nearly five minutes of checking, referee John Brooks was told to stick with his original decision.
Bogle escaped because there was ‘a lack of speed going into the challenge’ which VAR Tony Harrington deemed ‘reckless’ rather than dangerous. Whatever it was, Tel was injured moments later and Leeds had got away with one.
In real time, it looked a standard foul. After re-watching, though, it was hard to see how Bogle could stay on the pitch.
For all the decisions VAR overturns correctly, there are still far too many that leave too many people baffled.
Leeds are working to increase the size of Elland Road and plan that the capacity will eventually be 53,000. Whatever they do, they must not damage the place’s raw essence.
Only Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool have a better points-per-game record than Leeds since Daniel Farke became boss in 2023. The lunchtime kick-off will never match the floodlit fixture for atmosphere but the second half here was as raucous as on its best days, and the stadium shook when Okafor slotted the winner past Antonin Kinsky.
There is plenty to fix about Leeds. If Dominic Calvert-Lewin catches a cold, where do the goals come from? Who can replace what Ethan Ampadu provides in the centre of midfield?
These are questions for Farke to tackle but with Elland Road at his team’s back, he has solid foundations on which to build.
