Leeds United stunned Nottingham Forest in a 3-1 win on Friday night to move ever closer to safety with 29 points and 13 games left to play.
The Whites’ chances of staying in this league are very good. Two key factors in Daniel Farke’s success up to this point have been our style shift since late November, and Elland Road being a truly horrible place for teams to come to.
Leeds’ next victims in LS11 were Nottingham Forest. Managed by Sean Dyche, the Reds were level on points with us coming into Friday night’s huge survival clash.
Leeds United 3-1 Nottingham Forest: Three wins to go for survival?
Prior to Friday, Farke’s press conference comments caught my eye for a few reasons. He discussed that a potential reason for a lack of business in January was down to his own pickiness, while also noting what it’s going to take to stay up.
Farke has maintained a one-point-per-game run rate to stay up. 38 points for you keen mathematicians. Sitting on 26 points pre-match, Leeds had the opportunity to move clear of West Ham and edge three points closer to that total.
What followed was a demolition job from Leeds inside the first hour. Jayden Bogle raced onto a delightful Ilia Gruev clipped pass to calmly slot into the bottom corner after 26 minutes. Then, Noah Okafor diverted a James Justin cut-back just four minutes later to double our advantage.
It was no more than Leeds deserved and Gruev was again the provider after half-time. He picked up a loose ball on the corner of Forest’s box, and whipped a ball it at the path of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who opportunistically chested the ball in at the near post.
A late onslaught from the away side saw the towering Lorenzo Lucca head in a consolation. Forest knocked on the door for an unlikely route back into the game, but Leeds saw out the lengthy stoppage time without much to fear.
Jayden Bogle for England? Leeds United star shines again vs Nottingham Forest
When Leeds got into the Premier League, I found myself having to debate that Bogle was a good enough defender to cope with the top flight.
Scratch that, I somehow had to do this in the Championship too.
Not only has he been routinely passing top flight tests, including against Callum Hudson-Odoi last night, he’s also been revolutionary in our attack.
All eyes are on Gruev’s delightful ball in behind. But, the run from Bogle to ghost behind Forest’s backline, and coolly finish below Stefan Ortega was superb too.
The right-back’s consistency is getting to the point where I can’t see why he shouldn’t be in Thomas Tuchel’s England deliberations. Calvert-Lewin reaching double figures is surely something that’s piqued the interest of the Three Lions boss.
Key competitors for the position are obviously Chelsea’s Reece James – the best right-back in the Premier League when fit – and Newcastle United’s Tino Livramento.
However, I don’t think there’s an English right-back other than these two that you could say is playing nearly as well as Bogle is right now.
Should he continue this sort of form in the next month, before the March international break, Tuchel should be paying serious attention.
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