Controversial penalty gifts Leeds United opening day win over Everton

The striker, a free summer signing from Wolfsburg, stepped up in the 84th minute to fire true and hard past Jordan Pickford to send the home hoardes into raptures.

There was much debate about the decision to give the spotkick but there was no doubt that Leeds deserved their 1-0 victory over a passive Everton side who seemed rattled by the cockpit of noise engulfing them from all sides of the famous old ground.

The match was heading towards a goal-less draw when impressive midfielder Anton Stach thumped in a shot which took a deflection towards centre-back James Tarkowski who, although his arms were by his side, leaned into the Stach’s strike.

Much to the anger of Everton’s players and their manager David Moyes a VAR check confirmed the penalty which was despatched with aplomb by Nmecha to crown a lively cameo from the bench.

The Toffees were poor throughout even with the introduction of new recruit Jack Grealish with 20 minutes remaining failing to kickstart them into action.

United kicked off with eight players of their Championship-winning squad with Stach, left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson and goalkeeper Lucas Perri the only newcomers in the starting eleven.

With Everton struggling to put any meaningful pressure on Daniel Farke’s team, Perri had little to do while Gudmundsson was solid and Stach dovetailed well in midfield alongside skipper Ethan Ampadu and the probing Ao Tanaka.

It was one-way traffic in the first half with the Whites’ midfield dictating play, helped by striker Joel Piroe’s willingness to pick the ball up in deeper positions to spread the play. Only some desperate last-ditch Everton defending and some good work by England goalkeeper Pickford, particularly a tenth-minute block to deny Piro, kept Leeds off the scoresheet.

Every Everton error was roared to the rafters by the home fans among the 36,820 and it is clear that if Leeds are to buck the trend of promoted teams going straight down then the fervent home support will have a role to play.

The visitors came more into the game in the second half but still created next to nothing. Just as Leeds looked as though they were losing momentum Farke regained control with a clutch of substitutes to add energy to his team.

He said: “I think overall a hard-fought win. An outstanding performance. We were very dominant in the first half with 12 shots in the first half.

Normally you have to reward yourself with a goal and teams like Everton can get a goal then you get praise but no points on the board.”

There was no room in the matchday squad for striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, signed on a free last week from Everton but he may come into the picture at Arsenal on Saturday or in the League Cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday, 26 August.