For Norwich there could hardly been a sweeter way to reach the top of the Championship. They ventured into the den of the division’s leaders and emerged with an emphatic victory thanks to two goals from Mario Vrancic and one from Teemu Pukki. Patrick Bamford’s goal in stoppage time for Leeds was not enough to prevent Daniel Farke’s side from leapfrogging Marcelo Bielsa’s team on goal difference.
The nature of this triumph suggests they will be hard to knock off top spot. And Bielsa has much thinking to do after his side slipped to their fourth defeat in six league matches.
Fifty years after Don Revie made Leeds English champions for the first time, Bielsa is aiming to end the Yorkshire club’s 15-year estrangement from the top flight – and Norwich are the club fighting hardest to beat them to it. Not only did Farke’s team arrive at a sold-out Elland Road three points behind their hosts, but Norwich are one of the 11 clubs to have written to the Football League demanding to know exactly why Bielsa has not been punished for spying on opponents’ training sessions throughout the season.
Although Farke insisted that lobbying had nothing to do with him, and Bielsa showed he had no need for cloak-and-dagger antics by revealing his lineup for this match two days in advance, the scent of bad blood added to the high stakes to produce a heady atmosphere at Elland Road. Which is how Leeds tend to like it.
But Norwich are no timid travellers. They went into this game having lost only once in the league this season and, true to the attacking intent that they have shown all campaign, they quickly proved their determination to plunder maximum points. Farke’s men took the lead within five minutes, Mario Vrancic curling a free-kick beyond Kiko Casilla from 25 yards, helped by a nick off Adam Forshaw in the wall.
Leeds, intrepid attackers themselves, tried to hit back immediately. Ezgjan Alioski nearly did so, lashing a left-foot volley inches wide after a fetching cross by Jack Harrison, who had gone close with a long-range shot just before Norwich scored.
Leeds whirred forward with the speed and movement that has become familiar under Bielsa, while Norwich scrambled to defend and launch nifty counterattacks. As a spectacle it was top notch.
Further controversy arrived in the 26th minute when Pablo Hernández curled a pass forward to Tyler Roberts, who flipped the bouncing ball past Tim Krul just before the goalkeeper clattered into him on the edge of the box. The shot went wide and the referee decided a yellow card was punishment enough for Krul, much to the fury of the locals, whose anger deepened when Leeds wasted the free-kick. Worse soon followed for the hosts.
In the 35th minute Emiliano Buendía pinched the ball off Forshaw in midfield and Norwich tore forward, working the ball to Vrancic, free just outside Leeds box. Liam Cooper hurled himself in front of the Bosnian’s shot, deflecting the ball to Teemu Pukki, of all people. The Championship’s top scorer rolled it into the net from close range to claim his 18th league goal of the season and put Norwich on course to swap positions in the table with their hosts.
Kemar Roofe set off on a terrific solo run straight from kick-off after that goal, eluding several defenders before unloading a shot from 12 yards. Krul batted it away.
Bielsa made two substitutions at the break in a bid to inspire a comeback, Barry Douglas and Jack Clarke replacing Harrison and Pablo Hernández. Norwich, however, were not about to give up their lead easily. They were physically stronger and, though operating at speed, played with more poise than their slightly frantic hosts. Farke’s team were doing a number on Bielsa’s men, who seemed out of ideas by the hour mark.
No sooner had Bielsa made his last change, introducing Patrick Bamford for Roberts, than Norwich missed a chance to make it three. It came from strong work down the left by Onel Hernández and more slack defending by Leeds, Alioski caught in possession in his own box before Max Aarons fired just wide.
Vrancic scored his goal in the 78th minute. His shot from close range trickled into the net via a deflection off Douglas, whose dithering on the ball moments earlier had enabled Pukki to start the visitors’ attack. Bamford made it 3-1 by heading in from a corner in stoppage time.