Leeds United produced another brilliant defensive performance and were rewarded with three points after a 1-0 win at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. Substitute Noah Okafor’s second-half finish settled a game in which the Whites were the better side as they entered the international break on a high.

Leeds enjoyed large periods of dominance over their visitors at Elland Road but with a familiar lack of final ball or finish proving frustrating. That was until the 77th-minute introduction of Okafor, who scored with only his third touch.

Victory pulled Leeds onto 14 points from their 10 games heading into the break. Below are some of the YEP’s key takeaways from the day.

Left-back stand-in

Leeds enjoyed a front-footed opening 45 minutes without ever showing enough quality to carve Tottenham open, all while keeping their visitors quiet including the usually-dangerous Mohammed Kudus. The Ghanaian international caused Gabriel Gudmundsson a lot of problems in this fixture last season but got little change out of the Swede or Tarik Muharemovic.

When Gudmundsson didn’t emerge after half-time - due to what Farke later revealed was a hamstring problem - there was some concern as he was replaced by Melvin Bard. But Elland Road need not worry, with the summer loan arrival enjoying a brilliant second-half performance.

Bard kept Kudus just as quiet as his teammate Gudmundsson, flying into a couple of challenges that got the home crowd roaring and bursting into forward spaces when the chance arose. The Frenchman hadn’t played a single minute since coming off the bench late against Newcastle but more than showed on Saturday he can be leaned upon should Gudmundsson ever miss out.

Instant substitution pay-off

Farke waited until minute 77 to make his second round of substitutions and they were a sign of intent, Okafor and Harry Wilson replacing Lukas Nmecha and Ao Tanaka as Leeds switched to a 3-4-2-1. And that decision paid instant dividends, with Swiss winger Okafor needing only two minutes and three touches to put his side ahead.

It wasn’t the cleanest move, Dominic Calvert-Lewin flicking a throw-in to Wilson who saw Rodrigo Bentancur prod the ball into Okafor’s path. But the goalscorer showed a moment of quality that had otherwise been missing, setting himself with a touch out of the feet before producing a nice reverse finish in at Antonin Kinsky’s near post.

Farke had himself a little chuckle as Okafor reeled off in celebration, clearly enjoying the fact his two introductions had combined instantly to produce the winner. He mentioned the pair in his post-match press conference too and was clearly delighted to see them combine.

Early kick-off narrative quashed

Early kick-offs were a regular talking point leading into Saturday’s game and for good reason. Leeds hadn’t won a Premier League game kicking off before 3pm since August 2022, a run of 21 consecutive matches in which points were dropped being the longest in the division’s history.

That narrative had been ongoing for a few weeks and the only way to change it was to end the run, which Leeds did in brilliant fashion. There was no sign of a sleepy team, nor was there any sense of an Elland Road atmosphere needing time to get going - the early penalty claim and a few strong tackles helped that.

Leeds can now enjoy the international break off the back of an excellent win and in the knowledge their miserable early kick-off run is over. Their next one is a Saturday lunchtime kick-off at Aston Villa on Boxing Day.