Leeds United saw off a valiant Birmingham City performance in the FA Cup fourth round, with some of Chris Davies’ side impressing against Premier League opposition.
Daniel Farke’s two FA Cup ties this season have seen him pitted against Championship playoff contenders in Derby County and Birmingham City.
The former was something of a cruise after a wobbly first half, while the latter was a much tougher endeavour at St Andrews.
Leeds Untied see off Birmingham City in tense FA Cup fourth round tie
Leeds were the side to progress, but we were made to work for our success. It was an incredibly sloppy first half that we somehow came out of unscathed with Lucas Perri’s stunning save denying Jay Stansfield from a fine opener.
After half-time, Lukas Nmecha fired Leeds into a superb drive from 18 yards for his seventh of the campaign in all competitions. However, Leeds couldn’t see out the task of a clean sheet as Patrick Roberts’ deflected effort late on took the game to extra time and then penalties.
Perri stepped up as the hero again, though. Two converted spot-kicks apiece then saw Perri make the first move to deny Tommy Doyle down to his right. Brenden Aaronson made it 2-3 in the shootout before goalscorer Roberts skied his effort, leaving Sean Longstaff with the chance to seal victory, which he did confidently.
Leeds now head into the FA Cup’s fifth round, with the draw taking place very soon at around 6:35pm tonight.
Birmingham City’s Christoph Klarer stuns in Leeds United FA Cup clash – 49ers should take note
To see off the Blues is a solid result for Leeds. Having beaten an upwardly mobile Derby, the same can be said of Chris Davies’ side. It was by no means convincing at all, but that doesn’t matter in the FA Cup really.
Birmingham gave an incredibly good account of themselves, especially defensively.
In particular, Blues skipper Christoph Klarer was on hand to limit Leeds’ attacking influence to just 0.84xG – the third-lowest chance creation of 2026 for United.
Named TNT Sports’ Player of the Match, 25-year-old Klarer dealt with both Nmecha and substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin very well for the 120 minutes. In the process, made himself potentially someone of interest to any Premier League clubs eyeing a centre-back.
|Christoph Klarer v Leeds United|
|---|---|
|Minutes played||
|Defensive contributions|15|
|Clearances|10|
|Ground duels won|5/11|
|Aerial duels won|7/12|
|Pass success|86% (57/66)|
|Pass success in opposition half|79% (22/28)|
Having penned a new contract back in November, running until 2029, the Blues won’t be wanting to lose him any time soon.
That being said, if Leeds or any other club eye a brute centre-back to reinforce their hopes of consolidating in the Premier League, the Austrian could enter the shortlist.
When I casually noted Klarer’s standout performance on X, I was flooded with comments from Blues fans. All of them were positive, and multiple acknowledged that he’s a Premier League player in waiting.
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