Leeds United faced Swansea City in South Wales, hoping for their seventh league win in a row.
Leeds United extended their strong push for automatic promotion to the next level with an emphatic 4-0 win over Championship hosts Swansea City on Tuesday night, with Willy Gnonto scoring twice.
Whites manager Daniel Farke had picked an unchanged team for the game, but was forced to make a late change after striker Patrick Bamford dropped out during the warm-up. Instead, Joel Piroe was named to the starting lineup against his previous club to join Georginio Rutter up front.
With only ten minutes on the clock, Piroe was blasting Leeds into a 2-0 lead as part of the Whites’ lightning-fast start, which saw Crysencio Summerville score within eight minutes.
Summerville darted inside from an Ilia Gruev ball and blasted a low drive that deflected past keeper Carl Rushworth inside the left post.
Leeds surged forward again two minutes later, and Gnonto slid in Piroe, who scored clinically with the game only ten minutes old.
Leeds subsequently lost a fantastic opportunity to score a third goal in the 16th minute following a quick burst from a Swansea corner, but Gnonto was unable to beat keeper Carl Rushworth from close range, who saved with an outstretched arm.
Farke’s team was rolling, but Swansea were prevented by a fantastic save from keeper Illan Meslier, who rejected Ronald’s close-range attempt from a tight corner. Instead, Leeds went 3-0 up in the 35th minute, with Gnonto making no mistake after being set up by a wonderful dinked through ball from Archie Gray.
Gnonto then sprinted towards goal, turning centre back Ben Cabango and hitting a bullet strike into the bottom right corner. Leeds came close to adding a fourth with Georginio Rutter storming into the box from the left flank but shooting straight at goalie Rushworth’s chest.
Leeds went into the break with a 3-0 lead that could have been much bigger, and Farke’s Whites attacked immediately after the restart.
Swansea went close twice near the hour mark, with Liam Cullen’s low shot going wide of the post and Jamie Patterson’s close-range effort going over the bar.
But Leeds were in a frenzy, and the Whites scored their fourth goal in the 72nd minute when Gnonto doubled his tally, being passed in by Summerville on the break before sliding home past Rushworth.
Swansea City: Rushworth, Fulton (Allen 61), Cabango, Grimes, Paterson, Tymon, Placheta (Sagoe Jr 78), Cullen (Yates 61), Wood, Humphreys (Naughton 78), Ronald (Cooper). Subs not used: Fisher, Patino, Kuharevich, and Lissah.
Leeds United: Meslier (Roberts 77), Ampadu, Rodon, Firpo; Gruev, Kamara; Summerville (Anthony 73), Gnonto (James 73), Rutter (Joseph 77), Piroe (Gelhardt 87). Subs not used: Klaesson, van den Heuvel, Cresswell, and Cooper.
