Dominic Calvert-Lewin missed a penalty and Gabriel Gutmundsson was sent off as Leeds and Crystal Palace played out a goalless draw at Selhurst Park. It was a chaotic five minutes before half-time.
As the half-time interval began, a lackluster 45 minutes suddenly came to life as Will Hughes was penalized for an odd use of his hands to defend a corner, resulting in Leeds being awarded a penalty. Calvert-Lewin, who returned to the team after missing out on Leeds’ FA Cup victory over Norwich, fired a shot wide of the target.
A frenzy soon followed, with two calls involving Ismaila Sarr putting referee Tom Bramall under pressure. In the first match, the referee decided against giving a second yellow to Xhaka Bijol for knocking down Sarr. Furious, Selhurst Park turned up the volume to make their point known.
Moments later, however, Gudamundsson, who was already scheduled to face Brennan Johnson, mistimed his challenge to Searle.
There was confusion and it looked like Gudamundsson had to be reminded that he was walking a tight rope, but Bramall brandished a second yellow card. Jaydee Cambot was delighted with the decision while Gudamundsson returned to the dressing room.
Falke, who received his first yellow card while managing a Premier League club, said in his post-match press conference that the challenge was not worthy of a second yellow.
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Watch the moment Crystal Palace’s Jaydee Cambot celebrated Leeds’ Gabriel Gudamundsson’s red card, leaving co-commentator Chris Sutton baffled.
Before the drama at the end of the first half, the only moment of entertainment came from Walter Benitez’s goalkeeping. The keeper, who was making his Premier League debut in place of the ill Dean Henderson, narrowly saved Calvert-Lewin’s header.
Despite their shy nature, Leeds remained resolute and limited Palace’s toothless side to just one shot on target. Jefferson Lerma thought he had scored the winner after converting well from Palace’s set-piece routine, but the goal was chalked off for Johnson’s offside in the build-up.
And while Leeds picked up a vital point towards remaining in the Premier League, Palace suffered back-to-back goalless draws at home.
Glassner responds to unfair criticism
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has hit back at criticism of his side after their team displayed a lackluster display in front of goal.
“You know better than me how often Crystal Palace are in the top 10.
“We are close and we play European football. Yes, we know there are things to improve, but I don’t like everyone to be so critical.
“For me it looks like Crystal Palace always played for the Premier League title, always played great football, but now they’re not doing that anymore. I think it’s completely unfair, especially for the players.
“I always respect the opinion of the fans, as well as everyone on the other side, and I can reiterate that you all know better than me that this has been one of the best seasons in Crystal Palace’s history.
“I don’t know if Crystal Palace were always playing interestingly and scoring three, four, five goals a game, I don’t know.
“This has never happened since I have been watching Palace. It happened in a very short period of time when Eberechi Eze and Michael Oliseh were playing up front.
“But I can’t remember, I haven’t seen Palace since I started watching it.
“Our foundation has always been defense and everything we have achieved here. It has something to do with having had the best two years in Crystal Palace’s history. The foundation has always been great defense and not conceding as many goals.”
Falke: “I can trust these players with my life”
Leeds manager Daniel Farke expressed pride in his team’s performance after the match.
“This day proved why I trust my boys with my life because I can always count on them.
“We’re probably not perfect or flawless, but it would have been a great halftime otherwise.
“But the way we adapted to the strange situation in the second half too, we had to play with loads throughout the second half, we had to accept some strange decisions today and to show such mentality and cohesion… (we) didn’t give ourselves any chances.
“I think it was one of those rare games where a team that had to play for such a long time under load was expected to score more goals than the home team who were more or less chasing the game.
“We didn’t give away clear chances here and there, maybe sometimes we took shots or set pieces, but we didn’t really give them chances. I felt it was the opposite.”
“So even in the second half, we were close at times to score the winning goal. I’m just proud of this performance and how united we were today as well.”
“The spirit that we showed, and the quality of our defense, our structure. I told the players before the game that we came here to win this football match, because I was full of confidence and belief in the players.”
