A final-day win over already-relegated West Bromwich Albion will give Leeds United the fifth-highest points total for a newly promoted team in Premier League history.
Even if they slip up against the Baggies, Leeds’ current haul of 55 points following their promotion from the Championship last season has them sitting comfortably among the highest-achieving sides new to the top flight.
No matter how the campaign’s remaining games pan out, Leeds will finish no lower than tenth this season. Marcelo Bielsa’s side have cemented their place back among English football’s elite at the first time of asking, and they have done so, despite their critics imploring them to compromise, without budging a millimetre from their principles.
It looks like the ‘Bielsa burnout’ is in full swing at Leeds.. pic.twitter.com/NNiME5O2lT
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) May 18, 2021
Leeds stormed the Championship last season with an exhilarating, high-speed style of play, an outright commitment to attack the opposition relentlessly and with their defensive prosperity very much a secondary concern.
Upon their promotion back into the Premier League after a 16-year absence, pundits widely agreed that Bielsa, the enigmatic, influential Argentinian tactician, would have to bend from this modus operandi when the serious business begun; that his style, though pleasing on the eye and a riot for neutral observers, was reckless and would likely land Leeds back in the second tier.
Such assessments were only emboldened by 4-1 defeats to Leicester and Crystal Palace early on and a 6-2 shellacking at the hands of Manchester United before the turn of the year.
Leeds performed admirably on the 2020-21 term’s opening weekend, losing 4-3 away to champions Liverpool. That result, though, was held up as being emblematic of the problems with Bielsa’s style: yes, they would entertain, but more often than not they would be outgunned in the Premier League.
Another brilliant goal from Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds ⚡
Patrick Bamford's 16th of the season pic.twitter.com/empTuulAzB
— Goal (@goal) May 19, 2021
“This style took the Championship by storm,” wrote chief executive Angus Kinnear in his programme notes before a 1-0 win over Burnley in December, sticking firmly beside the manager who had reinvigorated this sleeping giant of a club. “We’ve refused to compromise our beliefs, even in the toughest league in the world.”
“When you lose, everyone questions the style of play,” Bielsa responded to the criticism. “When you win, you are praised for it.”
Now, at the end of the season and with a mid-table finish secured without any stylistic compromises made, Bielsa can bask in the praise.
Leeds are currently riding a trio of victories – over Tottenham, Burnley and Southampton – in which they have scored nine goals and conceded just one. At the time of writing, they are the Premier League’s sixth-highest scorers, even outscoring Chelsea and their expensively assembled cast of attacking superstars.
True to form, Leeds also own the sixth-worst defensive record in the division – only West Brom, Southampton, Newcastle, Sheffield United and Crystal Palace have shipped more goals than the West Yorkshire side.
Even in the face of a season’s worth of evidence, some might wish to suggest that this kind of approach is unsustainable in the long run; that Leeds won’t be able to bank on outrunning their defensive frailties forever and that when their attacking output dips they’ll be in trouble.
✅ No wins for the so called "Big Six" at Elland Road this season pic.twitter.com/J1TChZF6Z6
— Leeds United (@LUFC) May 8, 2021
But their underlying attacking statistics back up the sustainability of Bielsa’s methods. According to FBref.com, Leeds have the fifth-highest total expected goals in the League – behind only Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. This means that their feat of high scoring this season is not down to luck or an attacking hot streak; they are reliably creating enough chances to maintain their pace and position within the table.
Leeds this season have dispelled the accepted Premier League wisdom that survival for the division’s newcomers is dependent on their willingness to engage in a backs-to-the-wall battle of attrition, that entertainment and points on the board are mutually exclusive interests; anything else is cavalier and a fast ticket back down to the Championship.
But while Sam Allardyce and West Brom have been unable to lift themselves to safety through their adherence to the traditional methods of survival, Leeds and Bielsa have shown another way to thrive.
“If someone stops thinking the way they think and starts doing the opposite, then that is difficult to make work in football,” Bielsa said. “To give up on your convictions is not a good way to move a project forward.”
