It said a lot of Leeds United‘s newfound confidence that even in the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Daniel Farke‘s men could still get a result away at Stamford Bridge.
In years gone by, the Whites may well have wilted after going two goals down to an in-form Chelsea side, although the visitors courageously fought back, quite literally scrambling their way to a 2-2 draw.
With both Lukas Nmecha and Noah Okafor on the scoresheet, the absence of Calvert-Lewin was certainly not felt too greatly, with the Englishman having sat out the trip to the capital through illness.
There’s no denying who Leeds’ main man is, however, with the 28-year-old likely to slip straight back into the starting lineup next time around, keen to maintain his impressive momentum at Elland Road.
Why Calvert-Lewin looks like a different player this season
A clear difference from the man who had toiled in his final days at Everton to the one now shining at Leeds is Calvert-Lewin’s ability to stay injury-free, having missed much of last season after sustaining a hamstring injury in January.
Much of 2022/23 had also been impacted by knee and hamstring issues, although it isn’t as simple as suggesting that his clean bill of health has been the only factor in this recent resurgence.
Indeed, the experienced striker had quietly been a regular fixture for the Toffees in 2023/24, starting 26 Premier League games all season, albeit while scoring just seven goals.
That campaign saw the one-time Sheffield United man miss 16 ‘big chances’ and record a goal conversion rate of just 10%, while as for last term, he scored only three league goals in 19 starts, again missing 16 ‘big chances’ and boasting just a 6% goal conversion.
While under Farke’s watch, the England international has already missed ten ‘big chances’, he has been far more clinical, scoring ten times with a goal conversion rate of 22%.
He’s averaging a similar shots per game record this season as last term (2.0 vs 1.9), as well as a similar average of touches per game (23.3 vs 22.9), yet has simply been far more ruthless, no doubt aided by the deployment of the likes of Okafor and Nmecha alongside him.
Having enjoyed a real festive purple patch, Calvert-Lewin looks like a different player to last season. He’s not the only one.
Former Leeds star is looking like Calvert-Lewin this season
More recent efforts against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest would suggest that Calvert-Lewin’s post-Etihad form was no flash in the pan, although the bulk of his goals did come in that blistering six-game scoring spree, having netted seven times in that month-long period.
Better than Calvert-Lewin: Leeds ace looks like “one of the best” in the PL
This Leeds United star who was better than Dominic Calvert-Lewin is looking like one of the best players in the Premier League.
Such a rampant run was nearly matched by a man of Elland Road past, Crysencio Summerville, with the Dutchman shaking off his own 2024/25 woes to emerge as a figurehead in West Ham United’s survival bid.
Sold by Leeds back in 2024, following the club’s failure to secure promotion at the first attempt, the fleet-footed winger scored just once in 19 league games for the Hammers last season, having missed the second half of the campaign with his own hamstring issue.
Like Calvert-Lewin, he didn’t get off to a stellar start to 2025/26, although since the turn of the year, he’s looked back to his Leeds best, racking up five goal involvements in five successive league games, prior to the midweek draw with Manchester United, having also netted in the FA Cup.
That included a run of four games in a row in which the 24-year-old got on the scoresheet in the top-flight, three of which ended in victory, with Summerville very much front and centre of the Hammers’ survival push.
|
Summerville – 25/26 PL stats |
|
|---|---|
|
Stat (*per game) |
Record |
|
Games |
21 |
|
Starts |
19 |
|
Goals |
4 |
|
Assists |
1 |
|
Big chances created |
1 |
|
Big chances missed |
4 |
|
Key passes* |
0.8 |
|
Pass accuracy* |
84% |
|
Succ. dribbles* |
1.3 |
|
Fouls won* |
2.0 |
Where once Calvert-Lewin was the real form player in the division, it could be argued that Summerville has now taken on that mantle, with even his display on Tuesday night having caught the eye, after giving Diogo Dalot the run around down that left flank.
The former Netherlands U21 international isn’t exactly a stranger to scoring in bursts either, memorably scoring in four games in a row for Leeds back in 2022/23, including in the win over Liverpool at Anfield.
Having subsequently lit up the Championship in 2023/24 with 31 goals and assists that season, it’s taken time for Summerville to become a similar, consistent threat at Premier League level, although like Calvert-Lewin, he now appears to be in the right environment and with the right manager to flourish.
Indeed, such is his status, he is currently valued at €22m (£19m), a slight dip on his £25m sale price, albeit while placing him above every player in the current Elland Road ranks, as per Transfermarkt.
He’s bang in form right now and will be central to West Ham’s potential survival – let’s just hope it doesn’t come at the cost of Leeds’ own battle to beat the drop.
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