Dominic Calvert-Lewin became the first Leeds striker to score in five consecutive Premier League games in 22 years to down a lethargic Crystal Palace, and open up a six-point gap on the relegation zone. Mark Viduka achieved the same feat in 2003, helping secure his side’s top-flight status with his instinctive finishing, another achievement the latest Elland Road No 9 is aiming to replicate.
The former Everton striker cannot have imagined almost 40,000 singing his name at Christmas when he was unemployed for much of the summer. It took until mid-August for promoted Leeds to convince Calvert-Lewin this was the right place to rebuild his career and they are proving one another right, helped by the long-throws of Ethan Ampadu, scorer of the third goal.
Palace spent the opening stages trying to dictate the tempo, helping them manage the workload of nine games in 26 days, partly explaining why they failed to make this competitive. There were 11 changes from Thursday’s draw against KuPS, and Oliver Glasner might have feared another was required when Marc Guéhi and Calvert-Lewin clashed heads but both were able to continue, ensuring the game played out in Leeds’s favour.
The plan to bombard the Palace box with set pieces was apparent from the start; a long throw-in belatedly fell to Joe Rodon on the edge of the box but his shot was deflected behind and from the resulting corner, the Welsh centre-back headed wide.
