Leeds United v Derby County: Championship – live!

43 mins: Derby win a corner, seeking an unlikely equaliser before half-time. It’s held up by grappling between Alioski and Marriott…

42 mins: Derby’s best opening so far, the visitors breaking as Leeds lose possession. Lawrence shapes to shoot but instead plays in Mason Mount on the left of the area. He takes a touch, but sees Ayling slide in to block his shot!

40 mins: Forshaw, pulling the strings in midfield, starts another move that ends with Clarke’s low cross, which is cut out by Carson.

39 mins: Leeds stroke the ball around in front of the Derby defence, before Forshaw shoots from 25 yards out. It has Carson worried, but flies a foot wide of the far post.

37 mins: Hernandez’s low ball into the near post finds Luke Ayling, who scuffs his shot wide.

36 mins: Bryson is penalised for handball, as Derby continue to struggle with Leeds’ high intensity.

The commentary team have reminded me of this World Cup spying saga. Improbably enough, it’s the second one in a matter of months to involve a Pontus Jansson team…

34 mins: Tom Lawrence, more than capable of a long-range screamer, takes aim from distance but sends his shot high and wide.

32 mins: Leeds continue to cause problems down the flanks, with Alioski whipping in a cross that beats the Derby defence, but is just too quick for Clarke in the middle.

30 mins: Leeds have won every game where they’ve scored first in the league this season; Derby have won five games from behind, the most in the division. Something’s got to give.

29 mins: Alioski is penalised for a foul on Holmes, but Derby do nothing with the free kick.

28 mins: Harrison attempts to steer a header into the far corner, but it’s at an awkward height and Carson collects.

27 mins: Keogh tries to break forward from defence but is quickly engulfed by white shirts.

Guardian political correspondent weighs in on Spygate:

24 mins: Dazzling stuff from Clarke, who collects a diagonal pass from Forshaw on his chest and juggles the ball beyond a defender. He can’t apply the finish, though, sending his shot wide.

22 mins: Derby, resolutely defensive thus far, will need to venture forward now. Leeds’ recent results should give them encouragement – they’ve conceded at least two goals in all their last five matches.

A deserved lead for the hosts, and Scott Carson may have to take some of the blame for a weak punch clear. It was expertly set up by Clarke though, and ruthlessly finished at the near post by Roofe.

The young winger motors down the right beyond Bryson and sweeps a low cross into Kemar Roofe, who slams a near-post shot into the net!

19 mins: Leeds corner, which Hernandez swings in towards Cooper. Carson punches clear, but it lands at the feet of Jack Clarke…

18 mins: Bryson picks the ball up in midfield, but has a lack of options upfield and his attempted waft up to Marriott is ineffective.

16 mins: Elland Road is rocking, but the free kick into the box is a big disappointment. Derby break but the move peters out.

14 mins: Alioski races forward from his left-back position to dispossess Andre Wisdom. He is unceremoniously upended by the Derby man, who goes in the book.

13 mins: Leeds continue to camp in the Derby half as the home fans twirl their scarves in the air. Just lacking that killer pass at the moment.

Two things are bugging me about this whole Bielsa business. 1. Has this great managerial innovator not heard of drones and/or television? 2. Do Bielsa teams not largely play the same way regardless of opposition? Leeds are charging and pressing around in the usual style here, that’s for sure.

10 mins: Ayling prods a pass through to Roofe, whose off-balance effort is easily collected by Carson.

Charles Antaki chimes in on Spygate: “For cast-iron insurance against failure, all a club need do now is kit out one of their staff in camouflage, give them a pair of binoculars (need not be real) and get them to skulk about in the training ground undergrowth before the big game. Heavy defeat? “Guy in the bushes”. Beats “if only there were VAR” as the next modern cliche.”

8 mins: Oooooh, what a chance! The corner skims across the six-yard line and Cooper gets a toe to it, but can’t keep it under the bar. A strong start by the hosts…

7 mins: It’s cleared but Leeds come again, and Harrison’s cross from the left is chopped behind by Richard Keogh.

6 mins: Roofe is working hard up top for Leeds, and forces Tomori into conceding a corner…

4 mins: Marriott gets on the ball for Derby, but is dealt with by Pontus Jansson. The Leeds fans appear to be singing “we’ll spy when we want”, which is to be encouraged.

Alioski pounces on a defensive error from Wisdom, who then bundles the Leeds man over! Referee Andy Davies points to the spot, but the assistant has flagged offside. After a quick chat, Derby are let off the hook. There’s just one problem – Alioski wasn’t offside. Dear oh dear.

Here we go – Leeds charge forward, and Alioski goes over in the area…

An extremely businesslike handshake between Bielsa and Lampard. All a bit awkward. Kick-off is seconds away!

“Frank is looking for an excuse in case Derby lose” says Frank Downes. “How is it illegal or against the rules to watch training on public land?”

I don’t think anyone is suggesting it’s illegal – just that it’s, you know, not cool. Although in my impromptu poll, 57% reckon it’s fine. You unscrupulous bunch.

Have your say! Marcelo Bielsa is sorry that Derby were upset, but says eavesdropping on training sessions is not against the rules. The steam from Frank Lampard’s ears told its own story. What do you think?

Crikey. After all that drama, easy to forget there’s a game on. Here are the teams:

Naughty Leeds (4-1-4-1): Peacock-Farrell; Ayling, Cooper, Jansson, Alioski; Forshaw; Harrison, Klich, Hernandez, Clarke; Roofe.
Subs: Huffer, Davis, Halme, Shackleton, Gotts, Stevens, Roberts.

Mardy Derby (4-3-3): Carson; Wisdom, Keogh, Tomori, Lowe; Bryson, Evans, Mount; Holmes, Marriott, Lawrence.
Subs: Roos, Waghorn, Jozefzoon, Nugent, Bogle, Huddlestone, Malone.

Frank Lampard gives his thoughts. He’s accepted Bielsa owning up, but it clearly still fuming: “On a sporting level, it’s bad, in my opinion. Talking about ‘I did it somewhere else, it’s fine’ – that doesn’t work for me. It’s disrupted our preparations. Police had to come to the training ground, so that was disruptive.

“We were training on team tactics, shape, personnel, and the fact that Harry Wilson wasn’t training. He’s admitted it, so I don’t think there’ll be any further action – but we had a guy in the bushes before we played Leeds earlier this season, and we lost 4-1.”

Marcelo Bielsa has spoken to Sky, via an interpreter. He has taken full responsibility for the spying incident, and apologised to Frank Lampard.

“It’s true, there was someone from Leeds there. The responsibility for this incident is mine. It doesn’t matter if this is legal or illegal, right or wrong … for me it’s enough that Frank Lampard and Derby County were unhappy, to show that I didn’t behave well. Yesterday I talked to Frank and he told me I didn’t respect his club. I have a different point of view, but the important thing is what he and Derby think.

“I’m the only one responsible for it, I didn’t ask Leeds for permission to do that. I’ve been using this kind of practice since the World Cup qualifiers with Argentina. This is not unlawful, we’ve done it publicly, we talk about it in the press, for some people it’s the wrong thing to do – for others it’s not.”

Good evening. A rivalry that has been slowly cooling down for over 40 years is heating up again, fuelled by a furious promotion race and ignited today by an old-fashioned spying drama.

Both of these big city clubs have been effectively rebranded by summer managerial appointments, but their bold moves are paying off. Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United are leading the Championship, while Frank Lampard’s Derby County are in the top six.

This match was already an intriguing prospect, pitting MBLU’s high-press infantry up against the swashbuckling starlets of FLDC. Today’s developing drama, with FLDC accusing MBLU of sending a bloke in a tracksuit to patrol their training compound, adds the necessary needle and takes us back in time.

In the early 70s, Don Revie’s Leeds and Brian Clough’s Derby routinely muddied each other’s pristine shirts as they tussled for major trophies, while the managers traded barbs and compared lapel sizes on the touchline. Now both clubs are heading back towards the big time, and are back in each other’s business. Kick-off is 7.45pm, GMT.