Glasner Slams Crystal Palace After Heavy Leeds Defeat

Leeds United overpowered Crystal Palace 4-1 at Elland Road, exploiting set-pieces to claim a vital Premier League win that drew fierce criticism from Oliver Glasner. The result extended Leeds’ unbeaten run to four league matches and moved Daniel Farke’s side six points clear of the relegation places, while Palace suffered a rare away defeat.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin struck twice from long throw-ins, continuing a prolific spell, while Anton Stach curled in a 20-yard free-kick to finish the scoring. Crystal Palace’s only goal came from a Justin Devenny penalty, but the visitors struggled across most areas as Leeds United dominated physical duels and second balls throughout the match.

Crystal Palace’s defensive issues from dead balls shaped the contest,

with all four Leeds United goals arriving from set-piece situations. Long throw routines repeatedly unsettled the visitors, allowing Calvert-Lewin to profit inside the six-yard box. Stach’s late free-kick underlined the home side’s threat, while Palace’s structure and positioning at restarts never settled across the 90 minutes.

Very disappointing performance today, he told Sky Sports. [We] couldn’t defend set-plays;honestly, it’s embarrassing. [We] couldn’t match their physicality today. Today is the first game [this season] we fully deserved to lose. They played man-to-man and we lost every single duel. We won one duel, and we got the penalty [from which Justin Devenny scored]. When you lose all the duels, it’s the basics, we didn’t show the basics. We thought we could pass the ball, but we had no chance in the duels, and then you lose every single game.

Glasner’s team travelled to Leeds United just 48 hours after facing KuPS in the UEFA Conference League, yet the Crystal Palace head coach dismissed any suggestion of fatigue as an excuse. Glasner instead focused on what was described as a failure to compete in individual battles, stressing that technical quality counted for little without aggression and defensive discipline.

Captain Marc Guehi echoed that assessment, stressing that Crystal Palace must recover fast with Arsenal visiting in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday. Everyone is disappointed, but it is definitely deserved, he added.Leeds were the better side, they won every duel, every second ball. We will play a team [Arsenal] that is better than these guys at set-pieces, so if we can do that better and contain themhopefully,in our low block and spring a counter-attackthen it will be good for us. But again, it is another tough game, so we have to learn quickly and move on.

WHAT. A. PERFORMANCE. pic.twitter.com/irsDiYNv9iLeeds United (@LUFC) December 20, 2025

Leeds United, Calvert-Lewin and Premier League scoring streak

The win highlighted Calvert-Lewin’s importance to Leeds United in this Premier League campaign. The forward has now scored in five consecutive league matches, becoming the fourth Leeds player to achieve that sequence after Rod Wallace, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka. Farke praised the striker’s quality but underlined that the challenge now is sustaining this output.

I have made my feelings clear that he is one of the best English strikers in this league, the Leeds boss said.Quality players have to show consistency and play an outstanding season. The season is not finished, he wants to score many more goals. We are all happy we have him with us, but he has to keep going.

In the six-yard box is where I need to be, Calvert-Lewin added. When you're in a good moment, the ball starts dropping for you and that's where I'm at. The belief stays the same. The belief I have in myself hasn't changed. I want to give my best for the team and continue playing well. It's a big result for us. We didn't want to undo our good work over recent weeks. We're taking it game by game and focusing on what we control.

Leeds United’s victory tightened their position above the Premier League drop zone and reinforced confidence in Farke’s approach, while Crystal Palace left Elland Road aware that set-piece organisation and physical intensity must improve quickly. With Arsenal next for Palace and Leeds seeking to extend this unbeaten run, both clubs carry clear lessons into demanding fixtures.