Leeds United will mark their return to the Premier League with a home game against Everton on Monday night.
The long wait is almost over and there are just hours to go until Leeds United officially mark their Premier League comeback with an eagerly anticipated Elland Road meeting with Everton on Monday night.
After seeing off Burnley in a tense and dramatic finale to the race for the Championship title, Daniel Farke has been solely focused on ensuring the Whites stay in the Premier League is extended beyond a solitary season and they avoid the fate suffered by Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich Town as they all experienced immediate returns to the second tier last season.
It has been a hectic summer at Elland Road as the Whites squad has been boosted by the arrivals of the likes of Lyon goalkeeper Lucas Perri, Udinese defender Jaka Bijol and midfield duo Sean Longstaff and Anton Stach. Work is ongoing and further additions are planned before the summer transfer window comes to a close on the first day of September and the Whites unveiled their latest signing when former Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin joined the club on Friday.
Leeds’ meeting with the striker’s old club will round off a busy first weekend of the new Premier League season - and it has been one where one of the Whites’ fellow newly-promoted clubs made headlines with an impressive opening day performance. Sunderland wasted little time in making an impact upon their own long-awaited return to the top flight as Eliezer Mayenda, Dan Ballard and Wilson Isidor all found the net in a 3-0 home win against West Ham United as Regis Le Bris’ counter-attacking style proved too hot to handle for the Hammers.
The setup put in place by the former Lorient boss is a far contrast to the attacking, possession dominated style favoured by Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich throughout disastrous Premier League campaigns last time out. With Leeds boss Farke opting to implement a similar style of attacking play during the successful bid for promotion last season, former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney believes Sunderland’s opening day success could have pointed the way in the bid to remain in the Premier League this season.
What did Wayne Rooney say about surviving in the Premier League?
Former Everton footballer Wayne Rooney acknowledges the fans during a lap of honour following the Premier League match between Everton FC and Southampton FC at Goodison Park on May 18, 2025 in Liverpool, England. Goodison Park, home of Everton Football Club since August 24, 1892, will play host to its final Men's First Team fixture today ahead of the clubs move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium for the 2025/26 season.placeholder image
Former Everton footballer Wayne Rooney acknowledges the fans during a lap of honour following the Premier League match between Everton FC and Southampton FC at Goodison Park on May 18, 2025 in Liverpool, England. Goodison Park, home of Everton Football Club since August 24, 1892, will play host to its final Men's First Team fixture today ahead of the clubs move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium for the 2025/26 season. | Getty Images
Speaking on the first Match of the Day of the new season, Rooney said of Sunderland: “I think the signings were excellent and they had a lot of players making their debuts today. I think the organisation of how they play, they played the exact same way they played last season and obviously managed to get promotion. I know first-hand what it’s like coming up against that and I got one of my only wins last season (against Sunderland). (Habib) Diarra was a huge threat all game, his runs forward, his energy, there was a huge energy about Sunderland in general and in the second-half, they put the wide players wider to create a bit more space in midfield to go and attack West Ham and West Ham failed to deal with it.
On the counter-attacking play, he said: “We saw last season, the promoted teams coming up, and we saw it with Burnley coming up under Vincent Kompany, they tried to come into the Premier League and play and be expansive and you just can’t do that. The gap from Championship to Premier League is massive and I think the way Sunderland play shows you can get results in this league if you’re organised, you work hard and you stick together as a team. There are so many new players but the players that helped them get into the Premier League last season had a huge impact in the game this afternoon.”
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