The Leeds United season so far has delivered an unbeaten Premier League start, a chastening cup night in west London and the small matter of seven summer signings still settling in at Thorp Arch. With Newcastle United due at Elland Road on Monday night, this is the story of Daniel Farke’s 2026/27 campaign to date — every result, every arrival and every departure, in one place.
Leeds United season so far: the Premier League start
Leeds have played three league games and lost none of them. The opener at the City Ground on 22 August brought a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, settled by an Anton Stach free-kick that gave the Whites the perfect answer to a summer of questions about whether a second successive top-flight season would be any kinder than the first.
Elland Road’s first league night of the season, against Brentford on 30 August, was less clean. Kevin Schade put the visitors ahead in the first half before Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalised from a Lukas Nmecha cross, and a 1-1 draw felt like two points dropped rather than one gained.
The pattern repeated at the Amex on 5 September. Jayden Bogle gave Leeds a first-half lead, Luka Vuskovic headed Brighton level from a corner, and the Whites came within a Lewis Dunk goal-line clearance of taking all three home after Calvert-Lewin rounded Bart Verbruggen. A year earlier Leeds had lost 3-0 on the same ground; a 1-1 draw on the south coast was progress, however grudgingly it was received.
That leaves Leeds on five points from three games — W1 D2, level on points with Monday’s visitors. Opta’s updated predicted table, published on 7 September, backs the Whites to be competing towards the European places rather than scrapping in the relegation fight, which is a considerable shift from where most pre-season forecasts had them.
The Carabao Cup: two rounds, then 12 minutes of chaos
Leeds returned to the City Ground on 25 August and beat Forest again, 2-0, in the second round of the EFL Cup. That made it four competitive games unbeaten to start the season.
The run ended at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday 9 September in the most lurid way imaginable. Farke’s heavily rotated side led Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea 2-0 through a Tarik Muharemovic header and a Brenden Aaronson finish early in the second half — and then conceded four goals in a 12-minute spell and six in the half, losing 6-3. Cole Palmer scored a penalty awarded by referee Jarred Gillett and struck again, with Pedro Neto and Danny Welbeck also on the scoresheet. Substitute Calvert-Lewin pulled one back late.
Our breakdown of the 12 minutes that wrecked the tie goes through it goal by goal. Farke held a long squad meeting afterwards to address what went wrong, and the cup exit closes off one of the shorter routes back into European football.
Seven in: the summer business
Leeds signed seven players before the window shut at 11pm on Tuesday 1 September. Harry Wilson arrived on a free from Fulham, Tarik Muharemovic came from Sassuolo for around £34m, goalkeeper James Trafford joined from Manchester City in a £45m deal, and Nico Elvedi moved from Borussia Monchengladbach for roughly £8.5m. Winger Ditmir Hodja signed from Rabotnicki for an undisclosed fee on 21 August.
Deadline day added two more: Melvin Bard from Nice on loan with an option to buy, and Jean-Matteo Bahoya from Eintracht Frankfurt, confirmed after the deadline had passed. Both were on the bench at Brighton and are still waiting on their first minutes in a Leeds shirt. Our full verdict on the seven signings has the detail.
And a long list out
The outgoing column was longer. Pascal Struijk joined Brighton for £15m, Karl Darlow left for Manchester United on a free, Jack Harrison moved to New England Revolution and Joe Gelhardt joined Hull City for £6.5m. Illan Meslier, whose contract expired in June, signed for Arsenal in early July on a two-year deal with a 12-month option. Isaac Schmidt returned to Switzerland with Young Boys, Maximilian Wober and Sam Byram were released, and Joel Piroe and Sebastiaan Bornauw went out on loan.
Two late exits stung most. Wilfried Gnonto joined Fiorentina on 1 September, ending a four-year Elland Road stay, and Largie Ramazani went to Burnley on a season-long loan that becomes permanent next summer for £6.5m rising to £8.5m.
The current injury and availability picture
Centre-back Joe Rodon is the significant absentee, having pulled up with a hamstring problem against Brentford on 30 August. The Yorkshire Evening Post describes it as a serious one, though no club timescale has been confirmed. Gabriel Gudmundsson, by contrast, is back, having completed 90 minutes at Brighton.
Away from the treatment room, Noah Okafor has stepped away from representing Switzerland, a decision Farke was asked to address after the international break.
What comes next
Newcastle visit Elland Road on Monday night under a new head coach, Matthias Jaissle, following the end of Eddie Howe’s era on Tyneside. The Magpies have also lost Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon, and arrive on the same five points as Leeds. Kick-off time has not been confirmed by the club. Beyond that, the festive fixture dates are now locked in.
Three games unbeaten, seven new faces and one night at Stamford Bridge nobody at Leeds will want replayed: that is the season so far. Monday tells us which version of it is closer to the truth.
