Leeds 3 Burnley 1 – Are they safe? Is Stach their player of the year? Why was Radrizzani back?

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Leeds 3 Burnley 1 – Are they safe? Is Stach their player of the year? Why was Radrizzani back?

Leeds United are almost certain to be playing Premier League football next season after beating visitors Burnley 3-1 to move to 43 points.

Friday’s win lifts them above Newcastle United into 14th place and opens up a gap of nine points to third-bottom Spurs, who have four games left and play away to Aston Villa on Sunday.

Leeds dominated the first half and took the lead after just eight minutes when Anton Stach surprised goalkeeper Martin Dubravka with a shot from 25 yards. It was Stach’s fourth goal of the season from outside the box, joint-most in the Premier League.

Two goals in four minutes early in the second half from Noah Okafor and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Leeds in full control, despite Loum Tchaouna’s late consolation, and within touching distance of safety with a trip to Spurs next a week on Monday.

The Athletic’s Phil Hay breaks down the key talking points at Elland Road.

Are Leeds now safe?

Mathematically, no, but here are a couple of telling stats for you: no Premier League club have ever been relegated with 43 points, their current tally, in a 38-game season. West Ham United went down with 42 in 2002-03, but that’s the only time this century that a team have cleared 40 and not stayed up.

The gap to Tottenham in 18th is now nine points and while West Ham United (17th) and Nottingham Forest (16th) are seven and four points back respectively (and bearing in mind that Leeds still have to travel to both Spurs and West Ham in their remaining three games), it would be a brutal quirk of fate if all three of those clubs, plus Newcastle, made it to 43 or better and sent them packing to the Championship.

Daniel Farke’s squad won’t get near the 59 points accumulated in 2020-21, the first year after Leeds were promoted under Marcelo Bielsa and then finished ninth, but to have their league position so under control with three matches left is a feather in the current manager’s cap.

You never like to tempt fate at Elland Road. Nonetheless, they’re just about there.

Is Anton Stach Leeds’ player of the year?

Stach — the combative but crafty midfielder, who might just make it to the World Cup with Germany — is routinely held up as an example of the profile of footballer Leeds went after in last summer’s transfer window post-promotion. He’s a physical specimen at 6ft 4in (193cm) but at the same time, he can play. And with either foot, he can’t half hit ’em.

Four finishes from outside the box, including one with his left boot in the eighth minute here, rank him joint top in the Premier League on that metric this season, and it was just what Leeds needed, teasing some profit from an aggressive start. Dubravka seemed to lose track of his near post as the shot sneaked in, but it was a well-struck finish nonetheless.

Stach fires in the game’s opening goal (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)

Is Stach on for Leeds’ player-of-the-year award?

It won’t be far off a toss-up between him and Gabriel Gudmundsson (one of 2025-26’s mysteries: how, when Farke gets so much quality ball and play from Gudmundsson down the left, has the Swedish full-back registered zero assists in 32 league appearances?). Calvert-Lewin, scorer of the third goal tonight, has oozed value too since being signed as a free agent. All three represent a big reason why this squad are virtually safe: savvy recruitment.

Why was Radrizzani there?

One face we weren’t expecting to see beside the directors’ box before kick-off: that of former Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani, who sold control of the club to 49ers Enterprises in summer 2023.

There were some good times under the Italian — the Championship title with Bielsa in 2020, that ninth-placed finish in the Premier League the following year — but his tenure ended under a heavy cloud, with relegation and a huge controversy when Leeds’ Elland Road stadium was offered as collateral as part of Radrizzani-led deal to buy Sampdoria in his homeland.

Radrizzani had not been back at Elland Road since selling up in 2023 (Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images, taken 2023)

The 51-year-old had not been seen at Leeds since but was back this evening, joking with chairman Paraag Marathe in the stands as the ground filled up.

Their interaction suggested that, to a certain extent, and at boardroom level in any event, bygones are bygones three years on.

What did Farke say?

“It’s a massive win for us,” he said in his post-match press conference. “The first goal in such a pressure game, it was fantastic from Anton. Of course you’re still nervous until you score the second and the third, and it was important to keep the foot on the gas. I have to give my players so many compliments.

“We will just celebrate once it (relegation) is mathematically done but 43 points is good. It’s not a question I ask myself, if we settle for 43. We’re in such good shape and delivering so many good performances. I said before the game, 12 points to play for. We have three under our belt.

“I’m picky and careful who I bring in and I wanted a group who were so tight because we won’t win one point at Premier League level with just individual quality.

“Let’s finish this step and then talk about the future.”