Leeds United secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road, thanks to Noah Okafor’s late winner, which ended their five-game winless streak in the Premier League.
2026/2027 Premier League
Full-time: Leeds United 1-0 Tottenham
Goal: Noah Okafor (79’)
Okafor came off the bench to make an immediate impact, scoring the decisive goal in the 79th minute to hand Leeds all three points and bring Tottenham’s three-match winning run to an end.
Leeds entered Saturday’s encounter without a league victory in their previous five outings, raising concerns that their poor run would continue before the final international break of 2026.
However, the introduction of Okafor changed the game. Just 97 seconds after replacing Lukas Nmecha, the forward got past Rodrigo Bentancur before calmly slotting the ball beyond Antonin Kinsky.
With strong backing from the Elland Road faithful, Leeds started brightly and almost took an early lead in the fourth minute when Mateus Fernandes appeared to handle Gabriel Gudmundsson’s cross with his outstretched arm. However, VAR reviewed the incident and ruled out any penalty.
Tottenham gradually settled into the contest and looked to threaten on the counter, but efforts from Omar Marmoush and Mohammed Kudus lacked the power to trouble James Trafford.
The biggest talking point of the first half came in the 34th minute when Jayden Bogle caught Mathys Tel high on the back of his ankle. Following a four-minute VAR review, the challenge was not considered serious foul play because of the lack of speed involved.
Bogle nearly capitalised on the decision moments later, delivering a cross for Nmecha, whose header was saved by Kinsky. Tel was subsequently replaced by Dominic Solanke.
Leeds resumed the second half with greater attacking intent, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin seeing his goal-bound header blocked within five minutes of the restart before Nico Elvedi headed wide.
Calvert-Lewin later set up Ao Tanaka, but the midfielder fired over the crossbar. Tottenham also threatened at the other end, although Conor Gallagher’s powerful effort narrowly missed the target.
Kinsky then produced an excellent fingertip save to keep out Sean Longstaff’s instinctive effort. However, the goalkeeper was eventually beaten when Okafor found space inside the penalty area and placed his finish into the bottom-left corner.
Roberto De Zerbi’s men pushed hard in search of an equaliser, but Trafford denied Jan Paul van Hecke’s header, while Bentancur cleared up another dangerous situation as Leeds held on to claim victory.
Super-sub Okafor inspires Leeds after improved second-half display
Leeds had enjoyed an encouraging start to the campaign but struggled in recent weeks, with their poor results affecting their position in the Premier League standings.
Despite controlling possession and creating more promising opportunities in the opening half, Daniel Farke’s team struggled to produce a clear-cut scoring chance.
The club have now gone six consecutive Premier League matches without scoring in the first half, their longest such streak since the final six games of the 2021-22 campaign.
Only Sunderland, with 21, have recorded more goalless half-time draws in the top flight since the beginning of last season than Leeds, who have registered 20.
However, Calvert-Lewin’s early second-half opportunities injected energy into Leeds’ performance, although it was substitute Okafor who ultimately made the difference.
His strike was Leeds’ first goal from a substitute in the Premier League this season. It was also the quickest goal by a substitute in the competition this campaign, coming just 97 seconds after his introduction.
Okafor has now scored eight goals in his last 16 top-flight appearances, having managed only two goals in his first 21 matches in the competition.
Meanwhile, Tottenham could feel hard done by over Bogle’s decision to escape a red card, but their attacking performance was largely disappointing.
Spurs registered just seven attempts, producing an expected goals (xG) figure of 0.77, while Leeds recorded 16 shots and an xG total of 2.02.
