In a nervy Friday night premier league game between Wolves vs Leeds, where both sides had multiple chances to score, it was an Illan Meslier own goal that separated the sides, giving Nuno Espírito Santo’s men the much needed three points.
During the first half, it was the Wolves that had the best chances to score. The electric Pedro Neto was firing away from outside the box and had their first real chance on 11 minutes when a curling effort from outside the box forced a save from young French keeper Meslier.
Leeds looked threatening from set-pieces throughout the night and they had a great chance to score when a Raphinha free-kick found the head of Leeds captain Liam Cooper. However, the defender wasn’t able to connect with the header properly, and it was comfortably saved by Rui Patrício.
The best chance of the half for either side came when Neto played the ball through to Nélson Semedo on a Wolves attack, but the right back’s shot from the right side of the six-yard box was hit right at Patrício – a chance that arguably should’ve been converted.
Wolves vs Leeds match report
The only goal of the game came in the 64th minute, when Adama Traoré picked the ball up mid-way in the Leeds half, powered forward and unleashed a vicious strike that hit the post.
Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio made seven saves to go with his clean sheet vs Leeds.
The last Wolves goalkeeper to make more saves in a Premier League match while keeping a clean sheet was Marcus Hahnemann against Everton in March 2010, with nine.#WWFC | #Wolves pic.twitter.com/K8HWAoDjd1
— Talking Wolves (@TalkingWolves) February 20, 2021
Unfortunately for Leeds and particularly Meslier, the ball bounced back off the post, hit the back of the keeper and went in.
Premier League newcomers Leeds thought they had equalised through Patrick Bamford in the 76th minute after a cracking finish by the in-form striker. However, VAR confirmed that Bamford was just offside when he made his run.
They then had two big chances in the last minutes of the game, when substitute Hélder Costa had his shot from inside the box saved and Raphinia’s header bounding for the top corner was pushed wide by Patrício.
Leeds will feel hard done by not to have earned a point, or more, especially considering some of the chances they had during the game. But give credit to Wolves for keeping a clean sheet against a frequently scoring Leeds side that seem to be missing the injured Kalvin Phillips.
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