Premier League release official statement on Leeds United vs Crystal Palace
Leeds United turned Elland Road into another late-night cauldron as they beat Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.
Leeds smashed Crystal Palace 4-1 with relative ease, bullying them from set-pieces consistently and taking home a crucial three points.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin was the star of the show again with another two goals, with Ethan Ampadu even scoring his first of the season.
It was Anton Stach who scored the pick of the bunch, though, but it could have been so different.
Premier League release Leeds United statement
Joel Piroe was preparing to take a late penalty after Leeds were awarded a spot-kick by Thomas Bramall.
Ilia Gruev was taken down by Borna Sosa, but VAR correctly intervened with the challenge outside of the box, not that it mattered.
Stach stepped up and curled in a sumptuous free-kick to seal the three points, with the Premier League releasing a statement over the review on their Match Centre account.
“90+8’ VAR Overturn,” they wrote. “After VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of a penalty to Leeds.
“Referee announcement: ‘After review, the foul challenge contact is outside the area, therefore the final decision is a direct free-kick.'”
VAR has mixed night in Leeds United vs Crystal Palace
VAR was effective here, but Keith Hackett believes Leeds should have been awarded a penalty earlier.
Brenden Aaronson was hacked down by Tyrick Mitchell, but the American was left in a heap with zero reward in an action-packed first half.
Thankfully, it didn’t matter too much.
Leeds are now guaranteed to be six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone at Christmas.
West Ham lost again at Manchester City on Saturday, with fans at the London Stadium really starting to fear the turnaround on show from the Whites.
With Sunderland, Liverpool and Manchester United next, either side of the New Year, Daniel Farke will be desperate to continue picking up points when it matters.
Leeds now have seven days’ rest before the trip to the Stadium of Light, with the likes of Calvert-Lewin and Stach critical to another possible win in the Premier League.
Bring it on.
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