Noah Okafor, a doubt on Thursday, ends Leeds' four-year wait for a lunchtime win
Leeds had gone 21 Premier League matches without a win before 3pm, and the player who ended the run had spent the week on individual work. Tottenham went home without a fourth straight league win and without Mathys Tel, hurt by a challenge that drew no card.
Noah Okafor had been on the pitch for two minutes. Daniel Farke sent him on for Lukas Nmecha in the 77th, and in the 79th, when Tottenham's defence lost the ball inside their own area, he struck it past Antonín Kinsky. Leeds won 1-0, their first Premier League win in a match kicking off before 3pm since August 2022, ending a run of 21 without one.
Leeds United
- 1Joe Rodon
- 2Michael Zetterer
- 3Noah Okafor
- 4Melvin Bard
- 5Ilia Gruev
- 6Brenden Aaronson
- 7Daniel James
- 8Jaka Bijol
- 9Harry Wilson
Tottenham Hotspur
- 1Rodrigo Bentancur
- 2Ben Davies
- 3James Maddison
- 4Luca Williams-Barnett
- 5Dejan Kulusevski
- 6Conor Gallagher
- 7Luca Gunter
- 8Marcos Senesi
- 9Dominic Solanke
Okafor was not supposed to be the man for it. On Thursday he had managed only individual work, and Farke called him a major doubt. His goal gave Leeds their first league win since the 4-1 over Newcastle in mid-September, their first over Tottenham since May 2021, and the first clean sheet against them in 17 meetings.
Tottenham had lost Mathys Tel, who scored in the last meeting, before half-time. VAR spent more than four minutes on Jayden Bogle's challenge on him and judged it reckless, short of serious foul play, so Bogle was not even booked. Tel tried to carry on until Roberto De Zerbi replaced him with Dominic Solanke in the 43rd minute. Bogle played until the third minute of stoppage time.
James Trafford kept the lead. His mistake had helped Bournemouth to their 2-0 win a week earlier, and Farke kept him in goal; in stoppage time he saved a Tottenham header that would have levelled.
Leeds go eighth on 14 points, two above Tottenham in tenth. A side that had scored twice in its previous five league games needed one finish from a substitute who had been doubtful all week.
