Leeds United chief pokes fun at Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic, absolves officials

Kinnear, writing in his programme notes for tonight's game at home to Luton Town, joked that the second minute elbow Mitrovic landed on the defender almost rendered him 'homeless' before White recovered.

The incident was missed by the match officials but the FA announced last night that Mitrovic will serve a three-game ban, in a blow to Fulham's automatic promotion hopes.

Their 3-0 defeat at Elland Road left them 10 points behind the Championship leading Whites.

Kinnear said: "The key opening exchange saw Aleksandar Mitrovic's elbow on Ben White almost inadvertently render the Serbian striker homeless. Fortunately Ben was quick to recover, allowing 'Mitro' to continue to reside in Ben's pocket for the remaining 88 minutes.

"The challenge was so late that none of the officials could be blamed for following play and missing it (as they confirmed they had at half-time)."

Kinnear went on to laud head coach Marcelo Bielsa for his half-time tactical switch, bringing on Gjanni Alioski and Pablo Hernandez who grabbed a goal and an assist respectively as Leeds took more control after the break.

"Ultimately, it was Marcelo's tactical masterclass at half-time that secured victory with Pablo 'El Mago' Hernandez joining proceedings to dictate play, leaving us all to wonder at what age he will stop getting better," said Kinnear.

The club's CEO, a Luton fan, sees tonight's game as vital, so the momentum gained at the weekend is not lost.

"While there is no doubting the importance of the result against Fulham, it will be wasted if it is not capitalised on against a resurgent Luton Town tonight," he said.

"While my love of the game was originally born at Kenilworth Road, there are no split loyalties for me tonight, although I hope that Luton can do enough in their six remaining games, after tonight, to beat the drop."