Credit: Imago

Daniel Davis

Sun 3 May 2026 14:10, UK

Leeds United looked home and hosed, but still, Daniel Farke refused to celebrate.

Instead, he laid down the gauntlet. The Whites are all but safe from Premier League relegation – the 3-1 victory against a Burnley side gripped by turmoil saw to that – but Farke wants more. Nine extra points, to be exact. Even with the finish line in sight, he will not relax.

Away from the cameras, though, perhaps he will have afforded himself a wry smile.

Friday night’s victory lifted his team up to 14th place on 43 points while extending their unbeaten top-flight run to six matches. Had you dangled that particular carrot in front of supporters back in November, they would have snapped your hand off.

While Leeds’ survival has not yet been mathematically confirmed, they can revel in a job very well done and begin planning for the future. Whatever direction they choose to take in the summer, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, a man reborn, is certain to be right at the heart of it.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin back to his best

It should not be forgotten that Calvert-Lewin had not scored from open play in 84 days before, finally, ending that drought with a typical poacher’s finish at a rocking Elland Road.

It had also been his 13th goal of the season, albeit only one of two since the turn of the year that had not been a penalty. Farke had been questioned on his worrying drop-off in the build-up to the triumph over Burnley, and urged his misfiring striker not to overthink.

Calvert-Lewin was perhaps guilty of being trapped inside his own head after a scintillating glut of eight goals in nine matches between late November and the start of January.

Burnley’s caretaker boss, Michael Jackson, parachuted in on a day’s notice after Scott Parker’s departure, quickly discovered their limitations. They were shown the error of their ways after their unambitious summer, with the Whites’ signings bossing the show.

Perhaps the best of them all has been Calvert-Lewin, having arrived on a bargain free transfer. He was involved with just 21 seconds on the clock, coming within inches of making contact with Noah Okafor’s low, searching ball. That set the tone for a one-sided affair.

Anton Stach made the early breakthrough after eight minutes before Leeds doubled their lead shortly after the half-time restart. Unsurprisingly, Calvert-Lewin was involved, back-heeling into the path of Jayden Bogle, whose devilish delivery was volleyed home by Okafor.

Then, four minutes later, Leeds’ No 9 got himself on the scoresheet. Martin Dubravka made a mess of Ao Tanaka’s speculative strike from distance, and Calvert-Lewin was sharpest to meet the rebound to stab in his 12th league goal of the campaign – an impressive tally.

“It’s just anticipation,” Calvert-Lewin told Sky Sports post-match. “There have been a few of these occasions in the box recently where it drops for you, and sometimes it doesn’t.

“As a number nine, that is where you’ve got to come alive.”

Come alive, he did. This was Calvert-Lewin at his brilliant, bruising best for Leeds.

His FotMob touch map revealed that he spent most of the match outside the penalty area, where he helped to orchestrate play. He took 26 touches in total, albeit with just two inside Burnley’s box, while an xG of 0.45 showed he took the opening for his goal brilliantly.

Leeds weren’t always able to play off him, but he did an admirable job, completing eight of his 15 attempted passes for a 53 per cent success rate. Tellingly, though, Calvert-Lewin found the net from just one of his two shots.

He was unselfish throughout and took the right options.

Calvert-Lewin also helped Leeds to establish a hold over their opponents, winning one ground duel and six of the 15 he contested aerially – a 40 per cent hit rate.

He was able to get into all the right positions, just as he had been during the first few months of the campaign, but on this occasion, unlike throughout his barren streak, he found the decisive touch. This bodes very well for the rest of the campaign and long into the future.

What next for Leeds United?

Having moved onto 43 points, Leeds can now keep a keen eye on the enthralling relegation dogfight, knowing it is an impossibility for them to be dragged back into its throes.

Their points tally is more than the highest amount with which a team has ever been relegated from the top-flight.

So, with the Whites proudly marching on toward the finish line, what is Farke’s next big goal? Mid-table? A surprise shot at Europe? As it turns out, there isn’t one – not yet.

He is refusing to take his eye off the ball until his side are mathematically safe.

“The main objective is to stay in this league and doing so will be an amazing achievement,” declared Farke, who has vindicated the club’s decision to stick by him through thick and thin.

Next season, though, he can dream big. Thanks in part to Calvert-Lewin, flourishing once again in the Premier League, those ambitions could well become a reality.