With Crystal Palace’s away record this season it could have been a difficult game, but Leeds produced a high energy performance to keep the good run going and pull six points clear of the bottom three

Daniel Farke made just the one change to the starting line-up, with Aaronson back in for Tanaka, and though some might have groaned at that, the American defied his critics with a very busy performance. In the 3-5-2 system he serves us much better, playing a bit more centrally rather than occupying space on the right that could be used by a proper wide player.

Palace changed all eleven of the players who had started their Thursday night Conference League game, though a couple of them had come of the bench for about 20 minutes of that one. But they still managed to look worn out for most of the ninety minutes, so the mental strain of two matches a week for most of the season might be starting to catch up with them.

To be fair, they did have me a bit worried during the first half hour of the game, when they dominated possession and looked quite neat coming forwards. But they rarely looked like scoring, except when our old boy Eddie Nketiah managed to get a shot through Struijk’s legs which Perri spilled, but there was no Palace player on hand to take advantage.

And I thought it was a bit odd to see Rodon playing almost as a full back, even wider than I would have expected as the rightmost member of the back three. But it seemed to work, and he even managed to get some decent crosses in, which is not really what you expect from a bulky centre half!

As the first half wore on we began to dominate, with Struijk sending a header narrowly wide, then Aaronson being denied a penalty after seemingly being tripped as he cut inside on the edge of the area. VAR said nothing doing, but we were to go in front in the 38th minute. Is it just me, or have Ampadu’s long throws come on leaps and bounds since he first started doing them?

For long throws to be effective, you have to have a player who’s good at doing them, but I thought earlier in the season Ampadu’s just floated into the area, and were easy to defend against. But last night he was sending them in faster with a flatter trajectory, which is always more likely to cause chaos in the box.

And it also helped that the 3-5-2 means we have an extra big defender to send upfield whenever we have a set piece. Which meant that Palace ran out of tall men to mark all our potential threats, leaving Wharton to try to deal with Calvert-Lewin, a task that proved to be entirely beyond him. Our man was left to run free, and although his first shot was saved by Henderson, he was left with the simple task of knocking the rebound into the net.

As half time approached Struijk produced a fierce shot when the ball came back to him on the edge of the box, which was deflected wide. But the second goal did arrive in first half injury time, from another long throw. Wharton again completely failed to track Calvert-Lewin’s run, and this time our man headed home from a Bijol flick-on, for his sixth goal in the last five games. Or four games, if you take it from half time at City to half time here.

Glasner must have had a few words to say to his team during the break, as Palace came out looking quite determined at the start of the second period, but they soon ran out of steam, and we went three in front on the hour. A corner was only cleared as far as Aaronson, and when his ball was flicked on by Bijol it fell kindly for Ampadu to score his first ever Premier League goal for Leeds.

He had to wait for a VAR check, but that showed that Mateta had been so slow coming out that Ampadu was still onside when the ball was flicked on, so the goal stood. And we could have gone even further in front when a Struijk header was well saved by Henderson, before the ball was eventually scrambled away.

Calvert-Lewin was hunting for his hat-trick, and he looked like he might have got one from a promising break, but for once the Palace defence reacted quickly enough to close him down, and he was forced into shooting from too narrow an angle. Shortly afterwards he was one of the players replaced as Farke decided we needed some more energy late in the game, though this time no one has berated the manager for delaying his changes.

If the game is going well, why rush to change the line-up? In three different stages, Gruev, Piroe, Tanaka and Gnonto came on for Ampadu, Aaronson, Calvert-Lewin and Okafor. But Palace were also making changes, and finally their front line looked a bit more energised once Uche and Devenny had replaced the ineffectual Nketia and out of form Mateta.

As we went into time added on, Uche raced into the box, and Perri took him out after coming off his line far too late. Devenny stepped up to take the penalty and sent our keeper the wrong way, which meant that we still haven’t kept a clean sheet since August. And the same player missed an easy chance to bring it back to 3-2 when he hit the post with a header from a few yards out.

That would have given us a nervy end to the game, which would have been crazy after we thought it was all done and dusted on 90 minutes. But thankfully the final goal came at the other end. The referee initially pointed to the spot after Gruev was brought down as he raced into the box, but the VAR mob ruled that contact was made outside the area, so it was downgraded to a free kick.

Which was tough on Piroe, who would have been the obvious candidate to take a penalty out of the players on the field at the time, and could have chalked up his first Premier League goal. But it didn’t matter to the team, as Stach sent the free kick over the wall and into the net behind them, after Henderson had stood far to far across to be able to get to it.

Soon afterwards the referee put Palace out of their misery with the final whistle. We might have been fortunate to play them at this stage of the season, but we’ll take it, and with West Ham losing at Man City we will spend Christmas Day six points clear of the bottom three. And a City supporting mate told me the Hammers looked “pretty dreadful, with Bowen the only player with anything like a spark” yesterday.

Which sounds encouraging, though it might not be fair to judge them on that game alone, when they have an easier run of games coming up. So we’ve still got a lot to do, but if Calvert-Lewin can stay fit and in form, we should be clear of trouble by the time we have to go to the London Stadium on the final day of the season.

Reuters