Lukas Nmecha has not started many Premier League games but has delivered a telling impact when he does
Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter
07:00, 12 Feb 2026
Lukas Nmecha fires home a penalty vs Chelsea
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Lukas Nmecha fires home a penalty vs Chelsea(Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Lukas Nmecha has had to bide his time. Many Leeds United supporters have wanted Daniel Farke to enact a reprisal of his strike partnership with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, one first born during half-time at Manchester City.
The duo then started their first game as a pair in the subsequent midweek clash with Chelsea at Elland Road, where Leeds ran out 3-1 winners. There were some canny similarities between that fixture and Tuesday’s 2-2 draw, not least Noah Okafor making an impact from the bench.
However, Calvert-Lewin missed this week’s match through illness and so Nmecha was handed his first Premier League start since the goalless draw at Liverpool on New Year’s Day, when he was also given the nod due to Calvert-Lewin's removal.
In fact, the last time he directly earned his starting XI place not through absence was that 3-1 home win over Chelsea. This has been partly due to his injury issues but more so the system Farke uses amid his back-three ploy.
While Leeds usually sit in a 3-5-2 formation out of possession, they morph into a 3-4-3 on the ball. That means Calvert-Lewin stays central while his strike partner moves off to the left.
As a result, Farke has used Noah Okafor or Brenden Aaronson - more-natural wide options - ahead of Nmecha, who has sometimes been brought off the bench in such a role. With Daniel James back, he is another option for this position too.
And so that Nmecha has been, and will be, forced to be patient. After netting his stoppage-time winner against Fulham last month, the 27-year-old said he has already “proven” that he and Calvert-Lewin can make a great duo and that “the rest is not up to me”.
He can point to one metric that shows that he is doing his bit to hold up his end of the bargain - across his last six starts, he has bagged a goal in four of them. A striker is judged on goals and his six strikes equate to one every 115 league minutes.
Of course, there are other factors to consider and there is no doubting that Calvert-Lewin is more influential in other areas of the game. But Nmecha is proving to be a prolific back-up, even if his performances do not correlate at times, such as his horror cameo against Fulham before his winner.
His injury record and questions over longevity mean that Leeds have still taken a risk by not signing another back-up striker in January. And all the while, Farke is unlikely to divert from the tactics that have seen his side lose just twice in 13 games.
But for a free signing, Nmecha - who also prodded the ball to Okafor for his equaliser at Chelsea - has shown his football intelligence, guile and cool-headed nature.
He may not be the long-term answer to the back-up striker question but he has shown to be a welcome Premier League asset.
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