Leeds United don’t like to make things easy for themselves. After a hard-fought match they were 2-0 up going into stoppage time and looking like they were heading comfortably for their first FA Cup semi final in 39 years. However, West Ham had other ideas and scored twice in the mammoth 11 minutes of added time to take this intriguing encounter into extra time and penalties, with Leeds the eventual victors.
With drama and intrigue galore, this was a classic FA Cup contest between two sides who some pundits had said should be focusing on staying in the Premier League. In this article we will look at how the game unfolded and who Leeds will be playing later this month when they head to Wembley for their semi final match.
Premier League Survival vs FA Cup Glory
🎶 QUE SERA, SERA… pic.twitter.com/2daPx1GiM3
— Leeds United (@LUFC) April 6, 2026
With both teams firmly embroiled in a relegation scrap at the bottom of the Premier League table most of the discussion before the match was around team selection: namely whether players should be protected from injury and saved for the league. Happily for the neutrals, both managers picked almost full-strength sides and a very competitive Easter Sunday match followed.
Leeds went 1-0 up after a 26th minute goal from their Japanese star Ao Tanaka who was on scintillating form. This was then followed by a 75th minute penalty conversion by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who came on shortly before as a 69th minute substitute.
Many West Ham fans left at this point, convinced that their team had let them down once again and even more headed for the exits as the 90-minute mark approached, not realising that they would miss 11 minutes of added time and two classy goals from their team – but as any good bitcoin live betting guide will tell you, it ain’t over until it’s over. Strikes from Mateus Fernandes and Axel Disasi were enough to force the match into extra time much to the dismay of the 9,000 travelling Leeds fans who had been in fine voice throughout.
Extra-time was as action packed as the rest of the match had been with West Ham seeing two strikes disallowed. Goals from both Taty Castellanos and Pablo were correctly ruled to have been offside and Jared Bowen also rattled the woodwork with a powerful shot. In addition to this the West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was taken off injured at the death, which gave 20 year old shot stopper Finlay Herrick his first team debut in dramatic circumstances.
His only previous experience of first team football had been a short loan spell at non-league Boreham Wood earlier in the season. It was a dream start for the young keeper as he saved the first penalty from the Leeds striker Joel Piroe but Leeds’ Brazilian goalkeeper Lucas Perri then saved shots from Bowen and Pablo sending Leeds into the next round of the cup and West Ham wondering what could have been.
The Hammers play Wolves on Friday night in a match crucial for their Premier League survival and so need to dust themselves off before then. Leeds fans celebrated long into the night but with key players Anton Stach, Joe Rodon and Noah Okafor all limping off injured, only time will tell whether FA Cup success comes at the cost of Leeds United’s Premier Leage survival.
FA Cup Semi Finals
- Chelsea v Leeds United
- Manchester City v Southampton
The semi-final draw was held at the London Stadium straight after the quarter final between West Ham United and Leeds United and has delivered a pair of intriguing fixtures. Both games will be played at Wembley Stadium on the weekend of April 25 and 26 with further details to follow.
Chelsea v Leeds United is a repeat of the legendary 1970 final in which Chelsea won their first FA Cup trophy after a fiercely fought contest. The match finished 2-2 at Wembley which meant that this was the first FA Cup final to require a replay since 1912. The replay was played at Old Trafford and after four hours of football and hard tackling, Chelsea were crowned eventual winners. Leeds will be looking for revenge and after beating Chelsea at Elland Road earlier this season and then holding them to a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge, they shouldn’t be written off.
Manchester City v Southampton is the David and Goliath fixture of the round with City sitting second in the Premier League and Southampton seventh in the Championship. However, Southampton beat Premier League leaders Arsenal 2-1 in their quarter-final match to secure their semi-final spot, so will go into this match feeling like another upset is not out of the question. Can the magic of the cup produce another trick to fool us all, or will we see the City v Chelsea final the odds suggest is most likely?
Whatever happens in these semi-final matches, it’s good to see that the famed romance of the FA Cup continues for a little while longer at least, and that two clubs outside of the so-called big six will get their shot at glory. Can they take it, and go all the way to the final?
