Norwich City vs Leeds United. Premier League.
Carrow RoadAttendance26,913.
Match report and highlights as Leeds ended a run of three games without a win in all competitions; Game burst into life with three goals in five second-half minutes; Raphinha gave hosts lead; Andrew Omobamidele grabbed equaliser; Rodrigo's strike secures much-needed victory for visitors
Monday 1 November 2021 07:03, UK
Leeds got back to winning ways to move out of the Premier League relegation zone with a 2-1 victory over bottom side Norwich at Carrow Road.
After a frantic first half, which at times lacked quality, the game burst into life in the second half with three goals in five dramatic minutes.
Raphinha, who looked the most likely for Leeds all afternoon, opened the scoring with a superb individual effort in the 56th minute before Norwich responded straight away through Andrew Omobamidele's header (58).
However, individual errors proved costly once again for the hosts as Ozan Kabak lost possession before Rodrigo's shot dipped past the outstretched arms of Tim Krul (60) to hand Leeds a much-needed victory.
The win means Leeds, who started the day in the relegation places, move up to 17th, while the pressure increases on Daniel Farke as his side remain bottom and without a win in their opening 10 top-flight matches this season.
Norwich were looking for a response from their 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Chelsea and they looked to make a fast start in what was a frantic opening to the game.
However, the first opportunity fell to Leeds as Stuart Dallas slid the ball through for Dan James. The Leeds forward managed to take the ball around Tim Krul, but Grant Hanley got back to clear the ball off the line.
Despite the early opening, Norwich continued to control the game, with Teemu Pukki firing wide after a poor clearance by James while Max Aarons and Mathias Normann did not trouble Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier.
Milot Rashica then tested Meslier with a long-range shot which had been going wide and Normann failed to hit the target from the resulting corner to ensure it remained goalless going in at half-time.
Both struggled to create clear-cut opportunities in the opening 45 minutes but it was all change in the second half as the goals came thick and fast.
James picked out Raphinha on the right and the Brazilian cut inside Omobamidele and Hanley before he fired back across goal into the bottom corner for his fourth goal of the season.
Norwich produced an instant response two minutes later after Meslier inexpicably passed the ball out for a corner, which Rashica whipped in for Omobamidele to head home for his first Norwich goal.
Parity did not last long, however, as individual errors handed Leeds the advantage once again.
Kabak gifted possession to the visitors before Kalvin Phillips passed into the path of Rodrigo, whose 30-yard left-footed strike slipped through Krul and found the net.
There was still plenty of time for Norwich to try and muster a response but Rashica's free-kick into the wall was the closest they came as Leeds held on and Farke's side slipped to an eighth league defeat of the campaign.
Norwich boss Daniel Farke: "I am disappointed. In home games against sides around you in the table, you need to win points. We are not playing for warm words, we are playing for points and if you don't achieve them in games like this it is difficult to achieve our targets and earn the right to stay in the league.
"We have lost against the top three and didn't have many chances. In all the other games, we have been competitive and received compliments. There was good effort and a good team performance today, but we lacked quality in both boxes. We were the better side in the first half; when we equalised, the atmosphere was buzzing and we had the whole stadium on our side. Then they scored and it changed the mood again. In a tight game this is decisive."
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa: "A very important win given our position in the table, due to the results we have been obtaining that are not positive. It is not frequent, and we went quickly from joy to sadness, but that is what football has that is extraordinary.
"Without goals the performance is not expressed. It is very difficult to score. To be able to count on players that unbalance is very necessary."
Sky Sports' Efan Ekoku: "Raphinha has been outstanding. He got better and better as the game went on.
"Norwich defended quite well against him in the opening 15 minutes or so, but after that he was the star man for Leeds."
Leeds picked up their first away Premier League win of the season, with this their first on the road since beating Southampton 2-0 in May.
Since the start of last season, only Crystal Palace (15) have conceded more Premier League goals from corner situations than Leeds United (14).
Norwich City have taken just two points from their last 20 Premier League matches (D2 L18) and haven't scored more than once in any of their last 28 top-flight games. Only Wolves between January 1984 and October 2003 have had a longer run of games without scoring more than once in top-flight history (30 in a row).
Norwich have lost their last 33 Premier League matches when conceding the first goal, while Leeds have won 18 of their 22 Premier League games since the start of last season when scoring first (D1 L3).
Norwich go to Brentford at 3pm on Saturday in the Premier League, while Leeds host Leicester at 2pm on Sunday November 7.
