Concerning Leeds United trend could kill off Daniel Farke's hopes of winning Championship title | OneFootball

The Whites are struggling for form, and there are plenty of questions over their goalkeeper's performances this season.

Leeds United fell off the top of the Championship table for the first time in 2025 over the weekend, as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Swansea City, while Sheffield United ran out 3-0 winners at home to Coventry City.

The Whites had held onto first place since they beat Stoke City on Boxing Day at the bet365 Stadium, but two mistakes from goalkeeper Illan Meslier were enough to hand their Welsh opponents two goals at Elland Road on Saturday.

The Frenchman had saved a penalty in the first half of the clash, but he was at fault for the Swans' equaliser as he dropped a corner straight into the path of Harry Darling, before letting Zan Vipotnik's strong effort into the bottom corner in the final minute of the game.

They were two hugely frustrating moments for Daniel Farke and his players, with it undoing a lot of the hard work that had been done by the rest of the team, and questions have to be asked of Meslier's future in the starting XI at Leeds.

Farke has a decision to make as Leeds lose their grip on the title

Although nothing is decided in March, the Whites are suffering from a significant drop in form over the course of the last few weeks, and Saturday was an excellent opportunity to put an end to their inconsistent run.

However, those mistakes proved to be vital, and it handed Sheffield United the advantage in the title race for the first time in a while.

Leeds have picked up just one win in five matches, their worst run this season, and while they are not conceding many goals, the ones that they are letting in are proving to be extremely costly at this moment in time.

Therefore, Farke has a decision to make regarding Meslier heading into his side's next game against Luton Town away from home, with the Hatters currently fighting for survival at the bottom of the Championship.

The Whites' defence do not look confident with the 25-year-old between the posts, and teams will target him more and more from set pieces and crosses the more he makes mistakes. However, Leeds do not have a quality replacement in their squad.

Karl Darlow and Alex Cairns are the club's back-up shot-stoppers, with the former failing to impress during his appearances in cup competitions, while Cairns has spent the majority of his time with the West Yorkshire outfit working on the training pitch.

Leeds have to replace Meslier in the summer

With their options extremely limited this season to replace Meslier, they may be forced to continue with him in the team, but in the summer they must bring in a higher-quality goalkeeper whether they win promotion or not.

Points have been dropped too easily at times in 2024/25, and without some of these mistakes, Leeds would find themselves clear at the top of the table. High-profile errors against Sunderland and Hull City have cost Leeds four points and there are other less-obvious instances where Meslier has cost his side goals.

A wicked bounce at Sunderland was the first high-profile error, but concessions against Portsmouth and Norwich City had been frustrating before that. Again, at Hull, Meslier failed to catch a cross from under the woodwork and presented the Tigers with the goal that sparked their comeback from 3-1 down; that was a key error, amongst more frustrations at the start of 2025 against Portsmouth.

Failing to clutch another corner against Swansea is a third high-profile error of the season, with a shot going straight through him on the back of it in the 96th minute to drop another two points.

There's a genuine chance Meslier will be dropped now and Darlow could be used in the coming weeks, but it is hard to tell if he will be an upgrade on the Frenchman and questions have to be asked about the risk of putting in a player who has barely featured this season.

Nevertheless, Farke will be worried about Sheffield United's and Burnley's progress while his team have faltered over the course of the last month, and they cannot afford anymore slip-ups from now until the end of the season if they are to win promotion.

A shaky presence in goal has cost them six crucial points (if not more) already. It's probably going to be the thing that ultimately settles whether Farke will get his hands on another Championship title.