Leeds United 1-4 Spurs

Premier League

Team news

One change for Spurs

Ryan Mason made one change to the team that started against Brentford last weekend with Pedro Porro in for Arnaut Danjuma. Academy youngsters Matthew Craig, Yago Santiago and George Abbott were on the bench.

One for Leeds as well

Patrick Bamford missed out for Leeds, replaced by Liam Cooper. Rodrigo, doubtful during the week, was fit enough to start.

Harry Kane hit a double to reach 30 Premier League goals for the season and Lucas Moura produced one last moment of magic as we rounded off the 2022/23 campaign with a 4-1 win over Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday.

Our England international netted a goal in each half to equal his best-ever haul in a Premier League season, while Pedro Porro was also on target and there was a fairytale ending to Lucas' Spurs career as he scored a wonderful solo goal with virtually the last kick of the game as we finished the term on a high.

However, this result meant an eighth-place finish and no European football next season as Aston Villa defeated Brighton to secure seventh, while the defeat for Leeds saw them relegated to the Championship.

Just 91 seconds were on the clock when we grabbed the lead following a bright start. The home side had kicked off and went long but we then kept the ball superbly, passing it around until Emerson Royal released Porro down the right, he found Heung-Min Son who laid off to Kane to power home from 12 yards.

Whatever happened elsewhere in the division, Leeds had to win this game and set about trying to recover from the early blow. They saw plenty of the ball but didn’t cause too many problems in the first period, Robin Koch twice heading a yard wide while Adam Forshaw’s drive was goal bound until Davinson Sanchez stuck out a leg to divert it for a corner.

We were always dangerous on the counter but just needed a better final ball on a couple of occasions and on 26 minutes, Kane was almost in again but his shot flicked off the toe of Liam Cooper which made it easy for Joel Robles.

Having gone ahead early in the first half, it took just 80 seconds after the interval for us to double our lead. Kane was the architect this time with some superb play on half-way, beating two players before slipping in Porro, who slammed a right-footed angled drive past Robles.

Leeds kept pushing despite the scoreline and Clement Lenglet did well to block from Luke Ayling before they pulled a goal back on 67 minutes, Jack Harrison firing low into the bottom corner. But we restored our two-goal advantage two minutes later, substitute Pape Matar Sarr finding Porro who released Kane to clip over Robles and into the back of the net.

We were denied a fourth when Robles twice saved good chances from substitute Richarlison but did add to our tally with a stunning goal from Lucas deep into stoppage time, with his final act in our colours.

Picking up the ball wide on the right, he skipped past Cooper, Ayling and Rasmus Kristensen as he burst into the box and tucked home to spark glorious scenes among his team-mates and our fans.

That wrapped up the win, while there were special moments for young Academy graduates Matthew Craig and George Abbott, who both came on for their professional debuts, with 17-year-old Abbott making a goal-saving tackle in stoppage time to deny Rodrigo.

Match data...

Leeds (5-4-1): Robles, Ayling, Kristensen, Wober (Firpo 60), Cooper (c), Struijk (Aaronson 60), McKennie (Rutter 60), Forshaw, Koch, Harrison (Gnonto 88), Rodrigo. Substitutes (not used): Meslier, Roca, Summerville, Greenwood, Chilokoa-Mullen.

Spurs (4-4-2): Forster, Royal, Sanchez, Lenglet, Davies, Pedro Porro (Lucas 90+1), Skipp (Abbott 90+1), Bissouma (Craig 77), Kulusevski (Sarr 67), Son (Richarlison 76), Kane (c). Substitutes (not used): Austin, Danjuma, Tanganga, Santiago.

Goals: Spurs - Kane 2, 69, Pedro Porro 47, Lucas 90+5; Leeds - Harrison 67.

Yellow cards: Leeds - Struijk, Wober, Cooper.

Referee: Anthony Taylor.

Venue: Elland Road, Leeds.

Weather: Light cloud, gentle breeze, 16 degrees.

Attendance: 36,871.

Goal of the game

Lucas Moura (90+5) - Leeds United 1-4 Spurs

Key moment

Harry Kane’s second came at a good time as it quickly extinguished any hopes Leeds had of a comeback when they made it 2-1, but his opener was the key moment of the game. The Elland Road faithful were in full voice and the atmosphere cranked up to the max as the game kicked off, but when Kane slammed home after just 91 seconds, it left their dreams in tatters and we were able to push on and secure a good win.

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Star of the show

It’s tempting to pick Lucas Moura for this as his stunning solo goal with his last kick of his Spurs career meant so much to everyone in lilywhite! But the best player on the pitch was Harry Kane once again. Not only did he score two excellent goals to reach the 30-goal mark in the Premier League again, but he was instrumental in everything that was good about our attacking display. He also assisted Pedro Porro for his goal on what was another wonderful performance from our talisman.

Stats a fact

30 up for Harry

With his double at Elland Road, Harry Kane became the first player ever to hit 30 goals in two separate 38-game Premier League seasons. He also equalled Andrew Cole’s record of scoring in 26 different PL games, achieved in 1993/94 (in what was a 42 game season).

Final flourish

Our win means we have only suffered defeat on the final day in one of our previous 13 seasons (W10 D2), when we lost 1-5 at Newcastle United in 2015-16. Also, Kane has now scored in six successive final day fixtures, netting 11 times on the closing day of the season.

Ryan's verdict...

“All we could do today was come here and take care of business from our point of view in a difficult, intense game. We did that. We were good value for the three points, fully deserved the win but, overall, it’s a massive disappointment for the whole season, because the league table doesn’t lie. We’ve finished outside of the European places, and we need to understand why that’s happened, to make sure we come back stronger and it doesn’t happen again next season. I was happy with a lot of things, ultimately, we’ve scored four goals away from home and won away for the first time in a long time. We also knew we had to stand up to a difficult test with balls coming into our box from everywhere, all angles, and we had a team out there willing to put their bodies on the line. Then, when we had the opportunity, I thought we played some outstanding stuff on a pitch that was long, dry and tough to play football on. We did all that very well, and I’m very pleased with the result.”

What it means

The victory over Leeds left us on 60 points in the division, having won 18 and drawn six of our 38 matches. That meant we finished in eighth place and outside of the European places, ending our current run of 13 successive seasons of playing in Europe. Only four teams scored more than our 70-goal haul, but only five teams conceded more than the 63 goals we let in during the campaign.