Leeds United avoid the drop with victory over Brentford

It went down to the final day of the 2021/22 Premier League season, but Leeds United have cemented their top-flight status for a second successive season by avoiding relegation thanks to a 2-1 victory over Brentford.

Ahead of the match it was clear that one of either Leeds or Burnley would be heading back into the Championship, with Everton having secured their own Premier League safety on Thursday evening.

Raphinha impresses for Leeds

A situation where both Burnley and Leeds lost would have seen the Yorkshire club drop out of the division, yet they were able to rely on Raphinha, their star man, on the most important of days for the club.

Whilst the expectation is that the Brazilian will depart in the summer, he was centric to everything Leeds did well on Sunday.

The visitors thought they had opened the scoring in the 19th minute, but a Joe Gelhardt goal was ruled out for offside.

News filtered through that Newcastle had taken the lead at Turf Moor, which gave Leeds a bit of breathing room.

However, in the second half it was Raphinha who scored from the penalty spot to give Leeds a slender advantage.

The pressure was then on as Sergi Canos equalised with 12 minutes to go, and by that point it was only 2-1 to Newcastle with Burnley having pulled a goal back.

Leeds knew that conceding again would end their time in the Premier League, yet up stepped Jack Harrison to score a dramatic shot from distance deep into injury time to confirm that Leeds had avoided relegation and could now prepare for another year of top-flight football.