Staff Reporter.
Newcastle United and Leeds United fought out a 1-1 draw in an entertaining Premier League clash at St James’ Park on Friday and the result did neither side any favours as it stretched their winless starts to five games.
The result left Newcastle 18th on two points and piled more pressure on manager Steve Bruce while Leeds are 16th on three points after they missed a string of chances in an action-packed first half.
Leeds dominated possession and missed a string of chances after Raphinha fired them ahead in the 13th minute before Allan Saint-Maximin levelled with a fine individual effort on the stroke of halftime.
Saint-Maximin was not happy with the outcome.
“We are really disappointed tonight because the team gave everything to win this game,” he told Sky Sports. “We knew we needed a win to start the season, so we just have to keep going and work hard.”
Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa rued his team’s lack of killer instinct in front of goal and conceded he was concerned with their poor start.
“Yes, of course (going five games without a win) worries me,” the Argentine said.
“We had sufficient chances to go in at the break with a bigger margin but we didn’t score in proportion to the amount of chances we created.
“We were missing some efficiency and capitalising on the chances that we had. We had a lot of possession, perhaps we could have created even more danger especially in the second half.”
The pace dropped in the closing stages with both teams cautious not to concede a late goal, with Leeds having the upper hand but unable to find a way through.
Premier League Weekend Fixtures:
Saturday, September 18
Wolves v Brentford (12.30)
Burnley v Arsenal (3pm)
Liverpool v Crystal Palace (3pm)
Man City v Southampton (3pm)
Norwich v Watford (3pm)
Aston Villa v Everton (5.30pm)
Sunday, September 19
Brighton v Leicester (2pm)
West Ham v Man Utd (2pm)
Tottenham v Chelsea (4pm).