Marcelo Bielsa cut a frustrated figure at Elland Road last night as his Leeds United side were held to a 1-1 draw by Luton Town.  

Leeds are looking to edge their way over the line in the race for automatic promotion this season, but last night they came up against a stubborn Luton side, who are making a real fight of staying in the division.

Harry Cornick fired them into a 50th minute lead with a beautiful shot beyond Illan Meslier, but Stuart Dallas brought parity 13 minutes later with a composed finish.

The home side chipped away looking for a winning goal, but it never came and chances for Patrick Bamford and Helder Costa were spurned and the unusual excuse of the Elland Road floodlights were to blame.

Here, we begin to breakdown what we saw from Leeds last night…

Time for changes

 

Dallas’ injury looks like it will keep him out of Saturday’s clash with Blackburn Rovers and Leeds will sweat on Liam Cooper, who limped out after just 10 minutes.

They could be forced changes, but there’s plenty to suggest other alterations need to be made.

In the past two fixtures, Ezgjan Alioski and Pablo Hernandez have excelled from the bench; Alioski scored in the win over Fulham and Hernandez provided a classy assist, whilst last night, the former set-up Dallas’ equaliser with a clever ball.

There’s surely a start around the corner for them on Saturday, whilst you could argue that Tyler Roberts deserves his chance as a central striker after three really impressive performances since the season restarted.

Bielsa can often be stubborn with his selection, but now might be the time to shake things up as a crucial meeting with Blackburn looms.

Alioski shines

Saturday saw Hernandez take all the credit for his excellent second-half performance against Fulham, but Alioski equalled his impact that afternoon and impressed again against Luton.

Bielsa brought him on at half-time and his left-back repaid that faith with a really threatening display.

Immediately, he offered a fresh threat down the left and on the 63rd minute, his clever ball into Dallas brought Leeds’ equaliser.

He headed into Sluga’s side-netting as Leeds probed for a winner, whilst he teed up Bamford and Costa for excellent chances in the latter stage.

Question marks remain over his ability to defend from left-back, but with Dallas struggling with injury, he’s surely a guaranteed starter at Blackburn.

Reason to panic?

 

Leeds have picked up four points from their first three games back, with Bielsa clearly frustrated by that return as he noted the five dropped points in his post-match press conference.

Nevertheless, there’s still at six-point lead over Brentford in third, whilst four points separate Leeds and West Brom (although that could be cut tonight), with Leeds in pole position to win promotion with six games still to play.

Years of heartbreak and failure have left the fanbase on edge. Any dropped points between now and the end of the season will be greeted by this tense reaction. Simply, they won’t believe until the dream is achieved.

On the back of two dropped points against Luton, there’s still little to really panic about and, from top to bottom, Leeds need to maintain their cool.

Points remain there to be had and the table favours Leeds at this point. There’s no need to hit the panic button just yet.

All eyes on Blackburn.