Sheffield United 1-3 Leeds United: Comeback win sends Farke´s men five points clear in Championship

Leeds United staged a stunning comeback, with two goals in two minutes sealing a 3-1 win over Sheffield United in the Championship on Monday.

The Blades had taken an early lead at Bramall Lane but missed out on the chance to go top of the table after conceding late goals from Ao Tanaka and Joel Piroe.

Illan Meslier made a shaky start to the match and almost palmed the ball into his own net in his attempts to clear a corner just 10 minutes in, but Ilia Gruev dived forward to head it off the line.

Just four minutes later, Ben Brereton Diaz whipped the cross into Callum O’Hare, who saw his thumping header tipped onto the bar by Meslier. Tyrese Campbell’s follow-up then skimmed the post, and the goalkeeper inadvertently knocked it over the line.

Manor Solomon had Leeds’ best chance of the first half, plucking it out of the air after racing in behind, but his low drive was well held by Michael Cooper.

Leeds pushed in the second half, showing more of a threat, with Mateo Joseph blazing a great chance over the bar just minutes before Junior Firpo rose high to thump Daniel James’ cross past Cooper.

Wilfried Gnonto then saw a curling effort excellently tipped over the bar by Cooper, though Leeds punished them from the resulting corner, with Firpo’s flick-on cushioned back across goal and in at the far post by Tanaka in the 89th minute.

Just under two minutes later, Piroe made sure of the points; he got the ball out of his feet before rifling a rocket past a helpless Cooper to send Leeds five points clear at the top of the table.

ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE!!! pic.twitter.com/gl2X8x9kDJ

— Leeds United (@LUFC) February 24, 2025

Data Debrief: Leeds in the driving seat

It was expected to be a tight match between the top two in the Championship, but Leeds showed their credentials with another late comeback, having also done so against Sunderland last week.

In fact, Leeds have now scored 20 goals in the last 15 minutes of the second half, more than any other team in the league this season.

They struggled in the first half, generating just 0.28 expected goals (xG) to United’s 1.09, but they flipped the script after the break. The hosts managed just 0.18 from four attempts, while Leeds had 12 shots worth 1.0 xG.