Wins are king at this stage of the season and any three-point haul is priceless but Leeds United 'sent a message' at Manchester United
James Justin has become a vital part of Daniel Farke's side in 2026. Prior to the turn of the year the defender, signed for less than £10m from Leicester in the summer, had played 160 minutes of Premier League football in cameo appearances. He had started just once in the league. Since January 1 he has started each and every top flight outing, racking up about 1,200 minutes of game time. Farke has played him in all four of the club's FA Cup ties en route to a Wembley semi-final. Along with his reliability, versatility has been central to his involvement because Farke has been able to put him where the need is greatest. Sometimes at right wing-back, sometimes at left wing-back and sometimes at centre-back.
The game against Manchester United came too soon for Joe Rodon and his ankle injury, so Justin was in the back three again and he more than played his part in a famous victory. Hot on the heels of the madcap FA Cup quarter-final win at West Ham, this game further educated Justin in the Leeds United way. Leeds were comfortable at 2-0 up, just as they were at London Stadium, until the sending off of Man Utd's Lisandro Martinez oddly changed the game. The hosts scored a goal to narrow the gap and came very close to an equaliser on a couple of occasions.
"People are always telling me Leeds don't do things the easy way and keep the fans on edge," he joked after the club's first Old Trafford league win in 45 years.
"Obviously, we'd like to have comfortable wins but it's just not the way it's falling at the moment. We've just got to knuckle down and keep the ball out of our net, to be honest, when we go goals up. It's something that we'll work on, but as long as we're getting points at this stage of the season, nothing else matters."
How the wins come at this point matters little. Leeds moved six points clear of Spurs with their victory and given the side in 18th place haven't won a Premier League game in 2026, it feels significant. It says something about Leeds and speaks to the other sides in the dog fight, too. That could play a role in the mental battle, ahead of Leeds' upcoming encounters with Wolves, Burnley, Spurs and West Ham.
"It's always an important time," said Justin. "This is the business end of the season, and to come to a club like this that are doing well in the league and turning them over and coming away with three points, it definitely sends a message. It's a big one.
"It just goes to show that it doesn't matter who we're playing or where we're playing, we can put in a performance like that. We showed we can pick up all three points, which we're hoping to [do] going to the capital a couple of times."
Beating Manchester United matters so much to the fanbase for obvious reasons and Justin was as an enthusiastic participant in the full-time celebrations as anyone. Even if it was never going to be season-defining night, it was still one to savour.
"It's a huge match for the club but I'm kind of more level-headed," he said. "This game, albeit a massive game for the club, is not the be-all and end-all in our season. At the end of the season, we want to be staying up, whether we win this game or we don't win this game. That's the main goal for the club. But obviously it was a massive night in terms of history. It's been a while since we've beat them here, and deservedly so tonight as well. So we're just happy to take all three points."
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