Spurs v Leeds United - history, facts and stats

We kick-off 2021 with the visit of Leeds United on Saturday afternoon (12.30pm kick-off).

Ahead of the clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we take a look at the history of the fixture, some of its recent key moments, the statistics behind both sides’ seasons so far, as well as the pre-match view from our opposition.

History

This will be our first meeting with Leeds United since January, 2013, and the first time we have welcomed them to north London in almost 11 years.

In that last home encounter with Leeds in January, 2010, the Whites claimed a 2-2 draw with a last-minute equaliser from the spot in an FA Cup fourth round tie. Having seen Jermain Defoe miss a ninth-minute penalty at White Hart Lane, we eventually had the lead just before the break when a loose ball cannoned in off Peter Crouch. Yet, the visitors were then level seven minutes into the second half through Jermain Beckford. With only 15 minutes left to play though, we thought we had won it as Roman Pavlyuchenko slotted home from just inside the box, but Leeds were to have the final say as Beckford scored from the spot in the 90th-minute. In the subsequent replay, Defoe certainly made amends for his penalty miss in the original tie as he rattled home a hat-trick at Elland Road as we progressed to the fifth round with a 3-1 win.

The last time we welcomed Leeds United in the Premier League we took all three points with a 2-1 win in Auigust, 2003. Leeds might have got off to a great start in the encounter as Alan Smith put them in front within in five minutes, but we were level before the break as Mauricio Taricco rifled in from just outside the box. Then, in the second half, summer signing Fredi Kanoute came off the bench to acrobatically volley home the winner on his debut.

That was our fourth win in our last five league meetings with United - the other game finishing as a draw. At home, we have lost just three of our 12 Premier League encounters with the Yorkshire outfit.

Meanwhile, we have a very strong record against newly-promoted sides as we have won 22 of our last 24 Premier League home games against such teams (D1 L1) and have kept 14 clean sheets in that run. Jose Mourinho has lost just one of his 27 Premier League home games against newly-promoted sides - winning 21 and drawing the other five. This will be Jose's first career meeting with Leeds United. However, he has won all four of his previous duels with Leeds Boss Marcelo Bielsa by an aggregate score of 15-2.

Leeds have only won one of their last 22 away league games in London (D6 L15). The last time they won an away league game in the capital that was also their first game of the calendar year was in 1992 – they went on to win the league that year.

Harry Kane is the only player in the history of the Premier League to have scored against every top-flight opponent he has faced (29) - Leeds will be opponent number 30 for the striker.

Last five meetings

27 January, 2013 – Leeds United 2-1 Spurs – FA Cup
3 February, 2010 – Leeds United 1-3 Spurs – FA Cup
23 January, 2010 – Spurs 2-2 Leeds United – FA Cup
10 January, 2004 – Leeds United 0-1 Spurs – Premier League
23 August, 2003 – Spurs 2-1 Leeds United – Premier League

'The kind of team that has nothing to lose'

It has been a bright start to life back in the Premier League for Leeds United as, after 16 games played, they sit 11th in the table. Yet, it has been a mixed bag of results for the Whites.

Picking up seven wins so far, they have lost just as many games while drawing the remaining two. Having won just three of their first nine outings, they have since been victorious in four of their last seven games, including in each of their last two - scoring six and conceding none.

They are the league’s fourth-highest goalscorers so far having found the target 30 times already - only Liverpool (37), Manchester United and Chelsea (both 31) have scored more than them. However, they have also conceded the second-highest number of goals in the league with 30 - only West Brom (35) have conceded more so far. For Jose Mourinho, they are a team that play with freedom and without pressure.

“Leeds is the kind of team that has nothing to lose,” Jose explained. “They were champions last season in the Championship, they come to the Premier League and there is no pressure on them. They play without any kind of pressure, but they play to win football matches and they play to follow their style of play. I believe they are going to end in a very good position in the table but for them, to finish sixth, seventh or eighth as an example, there is no difference. They are a very difficult team to play against because of their style of play.

“Of course, we analyse opponents and of course we try to have our own identity too. Of course, we try not to give our opponents the situations that they want - you always try to go the opposite way, try not to give them the situations that they are very good at and, at the same time, try to hide from the opponent or try to cover from the opponent the situations where you have your own fragilities.”

Meanwhile, we are looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League having gone four games without a win - 1-1 draws away to Crystal Palace and Wolves have surrounded defeats to Liverpool (1-2) and Leicester City (0-2).

In recent years though, we have largely enjoyed our starts to new calendar years. We may have lost our first game of 2020 as we fell to a 1-0 defeat to Southampton, however, we haven’t lost our first league game in consecutive calendar years since 2009. And, when starting a new year at home, we have been unbeaten since 1997 - winning nine and drawing one. On the other hand, Leeds have won their first league game just once in the last seven calendar years.

“With respect to Tottenham and the way they’re playing, they’re a very difficult team to face,” Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa discussed. “In every position they have solid, good players and they have options. They have strikers who can unbalance, and they are very clear in how they want to play. It’s a team that you can clearly see the influence of the manager and they are very competitive.”