Goal difference levelled, a Pascal Struijk reminder and was Baggies romp the best display yet? - Leeds United Talking Points

A Christmas gift but United's best yet?

Leeds have produced some outstanding performances during Marcelo Bielsa's two and a half years in charge so far with the 3-0 triumph at Aston Villa possibly the pick of them as far as the Premier League is concerned.

United were also fantastic in the 1-1 draw at home to Manchester City whilst the 1-0 win at Everton and 5-2 success at home to Newcastle United also stick out as amongst the best displays so far, in addition to the opening day heroics at Liverpool which ultimately ended in defeat.

Yet whilst the calibre of the opposition clearly always has to be considered, Tuesday's offering might just have been United's best yet and an example of just what Bielsa's side can do when everything clicks.

Gjanni Alioski said as much in his post-match interview on Amazon Prime, that the performance was the result of all of the hard work on the training pitch and Leeds were both solid in defence and clinical at the other end.

The Whites had 14 attempts at goal with six shots on target, five of which hit the back of the net - with a nice helping hand from the hosts for the first.

At the other end, the Baggies only offered four attempts with only one on target.

Even Sam Allardyce could have a hard job keeping Tuesday's hosts in the division and for Leeds considerably stiffer tests will await though it is worth remembering that West Brom approached Tuesday night's contest having held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Anfield.

All in all, United's display at The Hawthorns was the perfect way to end the year which will have done wonders for confidence heading into 2021.

The last two days of the year can now be spent debating which of United's goals was best and quite what Romaine Sawyers was thinking with his blind back pass for the ninth minute own goal.

A Christmas gift and Leeds were giving nothing back in return.

Pascal Struijk's potential and a seventh clean sheet

Plenty of questions were naturally being asked of both United's style of play and especially their defending after the previous weekend's 6-2 hammering at Manchester United.

Leeds had already been without both Diego Llorente and Robin Koch through injuries and were then tasked with bouncing back against first Burnley and then West Brom without captain Liam Cooper who is the latest Whites defender out injured.

Yet Leeds have responded by keeping back to back clean sheets for only the second time this season and 21-year-old Struijk has been a key cog in enabling that to happen in two starts in the back line.

West Brom offered very little upfront but Struijk was solid throughout next to Luke Ayling at centre-back and it's worth remembering that Struik has still only made 13 appearances in professional first team football.

Much tougher tests will await but equally Struijk will continue to improve and considering that United will have Cooper, Koch and Llorente all to return, the future is looking pretty bright as far as the defence is concerned though the acid tests always seem to be when Leeds come up against teams with pace on the counter.

Moving up the table

The primary objective in United's first season back in the country's top flight is clearly staying in the division and a seventh victory of the season has now sent Leeds up to 11th and 12 points clear of the dropzone after 16 games played.

The Whites are now as big as 45-1 to go down and should surely have absolutely nothing to fear on that score though nothing should ever be taken for granted.

But a bigger sign of United's progress is that Leeds are now only three points off fifth although a handful of the sides above them have games in hand.

A significantly tougher test now awaits away at Jose Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday and Spurs will be a real handful with the likes of Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min.

But one third of the way through the new season it is most definitely a case of so far so good for Leeds who have also now wiped away their previously negative goal difference.

Scored 30, conceded 30 - the second worst defensive record in the division but the fourth best attack.

On Tuesday's evidence, both aspects are getting better and therein lies the key to United's huge potential in their first season back.

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Thank you Laura Collins