Leeds United 3 (Justin 18, Okafor 20, Calvert-Lewin 90+5 PEN) Wolves 0
Wolves suffered successive Premier League defeats on the road after Leeds United scored three without reply to put the Old Gold on the brink of relegation.
Leeds scored twice in two minutes early in the first half to put the game firmly in their favour, with James Justin’s overhead kick and Noah Okafor’s finish giving the hosts the advantage. The offside flag denied Adam Armstrong the opportunity reduce the deficit in the second half for the visitors, before Dominic Calvert-Lewin put the game beyond doubt from the penalty spot late on.
Defeat at Elland Road means Wolves headed back to the Black Country knowing relegation could be mathematically confirmed if other results were to go against them later in the weekend.
Buoyed by their victory over Manchester United last time out, Leeds came strong out of the blocks at Elland Road, putting Wolves under immense pressure from the off, and almost scored twice in the opening two minutes.
Dan Bentley – in for his first start of the season after Jose Sa failed a late fitness test – had to come to his side’s rescue to deny Calvert-Lewin from close range after the Leeds man was played in on goal.
Moments later, Bentley saw his gloves tested from distance as Okafor aimed an effort at his goal, but it was a comfortable stop for the goalkeeper.
Wolves struggled to get their foot on the game in the early stages, and were given another early warning sign of what was to come when Justin headed over at the far post from two yards out following a corner into the Old Gold box, before Calvert-Lewin had an effort cleared off the line.
The visitors’ rearguard was finally broken on 18 minutes when Justin acrobatically fired an overhead kick into the back of the Wolves net. Moments earlier, Bentley had made a great one-handed stop to deny Ampadu from close range, but the rebound fell to Justi who made no mistake with his effort from 12 yards.
Less than two minutes later, Leeds doubled their advantage. Almost straight from the kick-off Wolves lost possession allowing Aaronson to burst into space down the Wolves left. His cross behind the retreating defence was placed perfectly for Okafor who fired past Bentley.
The second goal seemed to put more life into Wolves who aimed several pot shots on the Leeds goal, including one from Adam Armstrong, but the Leeds defenders were putting their bodies on the line to stop the blue shirts from halving the deficit.
The introduction of Mateus Mane for Angel Gomes on 38 minutes almost had immediate impact when the forward’s dangerous corner was flicked on to Ladislav Krejci, who saw his headed effort cleared off the line.
Leeds were able to comfortably see out the half as they looked to add a third to their tally, but Andre did well twice to stop a quick counter, and then put his body in the way of Ao Tanaka’s long-range piledriver.
Half-time | Leeds 2-0 Wolves
A quiet start from both sides to the second half meant Leeds were able to hang on to their lead comfortably, although the Old Gold came close to getting a goal back when Hugo Bueno’s corner was flicked on target by Krejci, and although it looked to be nestling in the net, somehow Karl Darlow got across to turn it over his crossbar at full stretch.
Another big chance fell Wolves’ side as substitute Rodrigo Gomes was played through on goal by Hugo Bueno after the Spanish wing-back had played a near one-two with Joao Gomes, but the Portuguese could only fire wide of the post.
Moments later, players from both teams were pushing and shoving following an incident with Krejci and Aaronson. The Wolves defender initially fouled his opponent, but the Leeds forward reacted and pushed the Czech to the ground with a shove to Krejci’s neck.
Aaronson picked up a yellow card, while Krejci was forced from the pitch, and was replaced by Hee Chan Hwang for the final 20 minutes.
Wolves thought they had got one back with less than 10 minutes to go when Armstrong was played in behind the Leeds defence and produced a smart dinked finish over the onrushing Darlow, but the offside flag denied the forward his second goal for the club.
The game ended up going into 14 minutes of added time, following several substitutions, injury breaks and also a change of assistant referee, after Matthew Wilkes was forced from the field and replaced by fourth official Lewis Smith, and Leeds added a third in the fifth minute of those added.
Wilfried Gnonto got in behind the Wolves defence before squaring a ball for Calvert-Lewin who took a tumble inside the Wolves box after a challenge from Hugo Bueno. Although Bueno pleased his case to the referee, VAR confirmed the spot kick, and Calvert-Lewin picked himself up before sending Bentley the wrong way.
Leeds could have made it four late on, with Lukas Nmecha seeing his shot blocked by Santi Bueno, but the result was already well beyond doubt as Wolves headed back to the Black Country empty handed, and closer to the drop.
Full-time | Leeds 3-0 Wolves
Leeds | Darlow, Bogle, Gudmundsson (Rodon 90+7), Struijk, Bijol, Justin, Ampadu, Tanaka (Longstaff 90+7), Aaronson (Gruev 77), Okafor (Gnonto 67), Calvert-Lewin (Nmecha 90+7).
Unused subs | Perri, Bornauw, Buonanotte, Piroe.
Wolves | Bentley, Tchatchoua (Lima 45), Toti, S Bueno, Krejci (Hwang 75), H Bueno, Andre, J Gomes, A Gomes (Mane 38), Bellegarde (R Gomes 67), Armstrong.
Unused subs | Brooks, Olagunju, Wolfe, Edozie, Arokodare.
