Marcelo Bielsa was left to rue his side’s second-half wastefulness as Leeds fell to a 2-0 loss to West Ham at the London Stadium.
Leeds twice had the ball in the back of the net inside the opening eight minutes, only to see them both chalked off. Firstly, Tyler Roberts saw his effort disallowed after Helder Costa was judged to be offside in the buildup, while Patrick Bamford saw an effort ruled out after the ball had just crossed the byline before Raphinha’s cut back.
Despite Leeds’ early attacking threat, it would be West Ham who took the lead in the 21st minute, after Luke Ayling had brought down Jesse Lingard in the box. Lingard stepped up to take the resulting penalty, and while Illan Meslier kept out his tame effort, he parried it straight back into the path of the on-loan Manchester United man who made no mistake with the rebound.
The Hammers would double their lead seven minutes later, Leeds failing to pick up the run of Craig Dawson from an Aaron Cresswell corner, the 30-year-old nodding home from close-range.
Dawson also came inches from netting his second in first-half stoppage time, the centre-back once again evading Leeds’ zonal marking at a corner, only to see his header come back off the post.
Marcelo Bielsa made two changes at the interval, and the Argentine saw his side become much more of a threat after the break, 15 of the 17 attempts coming in the second half, including West Ham goalscorer Dawson clearing an effort off the line, the West Yorkshire side were ultimately let down by their finishing.
13/14 – Leeds have lost 13 of their last 14 games in London in all competitions (D1), losing all five in the capital in the Premier League this season. Familiar. #WHULEE pic.twitter.com/1a72w9qXBU
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 8, 2021
Speaking afterwards, Bielsa said his side deserved more from the game given their abundance of second-half chances.
“In the initial 15 minutes we were very good,” he told Sky Sports. “In the final 30 minutes of the first half we defended poorly. In the second half we defended well and attacked well.
“We played better in the second half than they did in the first half. The differences in the first half were smaller than in the second half.
“We created 10 opportunities at goal without taking into account the disallowed goals. They were sufficient to deserve a different result.
“I don’t ignore in those 30 minutes they created the danger that was important. In the hour we were the dominant side we were superior than West Ham were in the 30.”
The result leaves Leeds in 11th in Premier League, Bielsa’s side set to host Thomas Tuchel’s in-form Chelsea side next weekend.
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