Premier League newcomers Leeds United have lost just one of their last nine games to propel themselves away from the relegation zone and towards midtable.
MORE — Everton vs Leeds preview, how to watch, prediction
From Matchweek 13 until the start of Matchweek 22, a grueling six-week period, Leeds were sixth in the Premier League form table and the second-highest scorers across that period as Daniel Farke’s change of formation, and a newfound belief, flipped their season around.
How have Leeds turned it around? How much higher can they climb? What are the expectations for the rest of the season? Can they do something special? With the table so tight, a push for Europe may not be out of the question if they can keep this form up.
The main reason Leeds have turned things around
Leeds playmaker and USMNT star Brenden Aaronson, who has been influential in their resurgence, believes they should have way more points than the 25 they’ve accumulated ahead of their trip to Everton on Monday.
“The biggest word is momentum,” Aaronson told NBC Sports when asked about what has changed for Leeds. “In this league it’s tough because you’re playing against great teams every week but I think now we’ve competed against the best teams in the league we’ve grown in confidence. All season, even before we went on this great run, I think we were maybe losing results by one goal or a last-second thing.
“I argue with Gabi [Gudmundsson] all the time, but we should have even more points. That’s the Premier League. It’s little moments. I feel like now we are starting to figure out those little moments, figure out how we can be even better at defending, we’ve been very good at defending and we are scoring a lot of goals which is always a good thing.”
Fortress Elland Road has been key
Five of Leeds’ six Premier League wins have come at Elland Road this season as they’ve beaten Chelsea and Crystal Palace at home, drawn with Liverpool, Newcastle and Man United and 19 of their 25 points have been at home. Their only home defeats were narrow 2-1 losses to both Spurs and Aston Villa which, as Aaronson said, could have gone differently.
Elland Road has truly become a fortress and after their trip to Everton, Leeds play four of their next six at home and will be eager to keep their great home record going. Summer arrival Gabriel Gudmundsson has arguably been Leeds’ best player this season and the flying Swedish wing-back revealed the mood is excellent and he loves playing at home.
“To play at home at Elland Road is a special feeling. We are doing something great. We feel good. Have good confidence in the team and the whole club. It feels very good to be here,” Gudmundsson said.
Farke’s standards and rollickings
Head coach Daniel Farke got Leeds promoted back to the big time at the second attempt and has built a solid, powerful and dangerous team.
He did come under some serious criticism earlier in the season with Leeds in the relegation zone and struggling on their return to the Premier League.
But his switch to a 3-5-2 formation has been crucial to this remarkable turnaround and he is truly one of the nice guys who is respected massively for what he’s done at Norwich and Leeds over the years. What is the German coach like as a character?
“First of all he’s a great person. He’s a great guy and really easy to talk to and get to know as a person, so that’s always a great thing when you have him as a coach” Aaronson said. “On his coaching role specifically, as you said he’s very calm on the sidelines. But he will lay in to us if things aren’t going well in the game, we will come in at half time and get a good talking to. On the training pitch he’s always demanding the most. He wants top quality all the time. That is something I really respect about him because if something is off by a little bit he doesn’t like the feeling or he doesn’t like when people are kind of being lazy, he’s on to you. I think that is one of his best qualities.”