Leeds 2025-26 season review: Chelsea win, Calvert-Lewin’s team goal and predicting next year’s issue

Leeds United’s supporters have been relaxing for so long now that they would be forgiven for forgetting what the club achieved this season. It’s distinctly unusual for them to experience a match in May without any pressure riding on it.

Daniel Farke’s side were officially safe from relegation with three games to spare. Leeds (along with Sunderland) bucked the trend of the last two seasons, in which all six of the newly promoted teams were relegated immediately back to the second tier.

While Leeds lost their final game against West Ham, make no mistake — it’s been a triumph.

Leeds United’s grade for 2025-26 is… A

As with player ratings, you have to give yourself somewhere to go with grades because no club can be perfect, but Leeds could not have done much more in 2025-26. European football? Reaching safety with four games to go rather than three?

It’s nitpicking. Since the start of last summer, everyone at the club has made consistently good decisions. At least seven of that window’s 10 arrivals have to be considered major hits for the club, while the decision to keep their powder dry through November and December on Farke’s sacking paid dividends.

Goal of the season

Anton Stach’s outrageous free kick at Aston Villa, where he beat Emiliano Martinez from more than 30 yards out, is hard to ignore and also won the club’s in-house award. That was one of those moments where you did a double-take from the press box, as your brain refuses to believe your eyes.

It defied logic and the ability of the man between the sticks, but I will actually plump for the more cultured, crafted effort than Stach’s long-range strike.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s finish at the end of a 12-pass move at Sunderland, which included all 11 Leeds players, was like poetry and deservedly wins this award.

Leeds scored an exceptional team goal at Sunderland (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Game of the season

For the neutral, it would surely be the 4-3 classic at Newcastle United in January. Leeds were winning that game 3-2 as the 90th minute came and went. However, the lasting pain of Harvey Barnes’s 102nd-minute winner puts it behind a few other Leeds belters, in my mind.

The home draw with Liverpool, when Ao Tanaka stole a point in the 96th minute and left United’s players unable to hear themselves think because of the Elland Road eruption, stands out, but it has to be a win, doesn’t it?

Three days earlier, Chelsea visited Leeds. The hosts were optimistic, after the impact their 5-3-2 switch had at Manchester City four days before, but were wary of their poor form continuing. They ended with just 29 per cent possession, but blew the doors off Enzo Maresca’s side in a 3-1 win.

The formation worked even better than expected, and United’s physicality was too much. It was the way Leeds fans want to win games, with sheer intensity and brutality on the pitch. By the end, Chelsea’s superstars looked as though they did not know what day of the week it was.

Surprise of the season

The run to the FA Cup semi-final. A lot has been surprising about this season, but ending a 39-year wait to reach that stage of the competition was never expected back in August.

It had been 45 years since Leeds beat Manchester United at Old Trafford in the league, but in a one-off game, with Farke’s side in decent form, anything could have happened that night. It was entirely less expected for them to win four cup games on the bounce and travel to Wembley.

They had not been beyond the fifth round since 2002-03, if you want to really understand how poor they have been in the FA Cup.

Mistake of the season

In a campaign where there has been so much success, the really high-profile mistakes, causing lasting damage, have been few and far between. Following on from the last point, the most impactful error probably came in the cup semi-final with Chelsea.

Pascal Struijk took a loose touch in his own half at Wembley, and Joao Pedro pounced. Chelsea countered at speed, and Enzo Fernandez eventually nodded in what proved to be the winner. It was a bitter pill for Struijk to swallow on an afternoon where Chelsea offered little else to really hurt Leeds.

Quote of the season

“I have to admit, I’m not light like a butterfly, I don’t look unbelievably cute and sweet when I jog. I have to admit this. The lesson I learned is I will never ever jog on a pitch again.”

This is what Farke said in his explanation of why he was sent off after United’s home defeat to Manchester City in February. Referee Peter Bankes had his red card in the air before Farke could even reach him, having jogged from the touchline to see him on the pitch after the final whistle.

The German reasoned he had not said anything malicious or foul to Bankes en route, so his only explanation for the red card must have been the way he looked as he ran over. A butterfly, he is not.

Funniest moment of the season

There haven’t been too many side-splitting moments this season. The above quote raised some laughs when Farke delivered it in a press conference.

Anton Stach’s pre-match Instagram posts, in which he edits himself into amusing animations connected to the forthcoming opponent, have been enjoyable.

The needle at Elland Road, involving the likes of Tyler Adams, Enzo Fernandez and Hannibal Mejbri, always brings a smile when you can see the player in question reacting.

Opposition player of the season

Gabriel at Arsenal was formidable in both games against Leeds. Joel Piroe was totally smothered at Emirates Stadium, but at Elland Road, even against an in-form Calvert-Lewin, it never felt like Leeds were going to score.

The defender was a monster in both boxes and never seemed to be caught out or in distress.

Gabriel shone in both games against Leeds (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

The issue that will dominate this summer is…

It’s likely to be how they retain their best players and improve their squad at the same time. This has been an exceptional season for Leeds, but they know they cannot afford to stand still in the Premier League.

They are probably fortunate in that their best players may need another season of success in the top flight to prove to their suitors they are the real deal, but their resolve could be tested on one or two. The likes of Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Stach, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Calvert-Lewin have to stay put.

This time next year we’ll all be saying…

Leeds United’s biggest task is retaining Ampadu, Stach and Gudmundsson this summer.