Credit: Imago

James Barker

Tue 12 May 2026 7:37, UK

Noah Okafor has thanked Dominic Calvert-Lewin for keeping a promise to use his goal celebration in Leeds United’s draw with Tottenham.

The Swiss forward was sidelined for Monday night’s trip to North London, having suffered a fresh setback with a calf strain.

Leeds’ assistant coach Edmund Riemer had confirmed that Okafor would miss the Tottenham and Brighton games respectively, but there is hope he will be fit to feature on the final day against West Ham.

Okafor has become a real fan favourite during his debut season at Elland Road, with his infectious personality and obvious star quality on the pitch seeing him become an instant hit in West Yorkshire.

He’s clearly a well-loved member of the dressing room too, as proven by Calvert-Lewin in Leeds’ draw with Tottenham.

How Noah Okafor reacted to Calvert-Lewin using his celebration

Calvert-Lewin has a poor record against Tottenham in his career, with only two goals scored from 14 meetings with them prior to Monday night’s game.

However, after netting in the 3-1 victory over Burnley last time out, the 29-year-old centre-forward entered this one in good form in front of goal.

But, having struggled to really get in the game come the 74th minute, he was presented with the opportunity to score his 13th Premier League goal of the season from the penalty spot.

Indeed, Mathys Tel’s attempted overhead clearance saw his boot catch the head of Ethan Ampadu inside the Tottenham box, and after a brief VAR check, Leeds were awarded a spot-kick.

Up stepped Calvert-Lewin who smashed his effort past Antonin Kinsky to level the score at 1-1, before wheeling away in celebration.

Heading over to the travelling Leeds fans, Calvert-Lewin eventually pulled out Okafor’s trademark crossed-arm celebration, which as revealed by Okafor’s reaction on Instagram, was clearly a promise made to him.

Watching on from home, Okafor posted a video of Calvert-Lewin using his celebration and captioned it by saying: “Yessss my brother. Kept your word.”

Okafor and Calvert-Lewin partnership could be deadly

In Leeds’ aforementioned 3-1 win over Burnley, and Okafor’s last appearance since picking up his injury, Daniel Farke deployed him and Calvert-Lewin as a front two against the Clarets.

Typically, Farke has played Okafor as an attacking midfielder behind Calvert-Lewin, so moving him up to play alongside him was an interesting move by the Whites boss.

However, it worked an absolute treat in that game, with both Okafor and Calvert-Lewin scoring, with the pair linking up well and looking like a proper front two partnership at Elland Road.

Farke will surely have been delighted with the results of that experiment that day, and if it was anything to go by, it could be a partnership that really helps this Leeds team kick on towards the right end of the Premier League table next season.