Pontus Jansson arguably put in his best display of the season as Leeds United beat Birmingham City on Tuesday.
There is no question that Pontus Jansson, along with fellow centre-back Liam Cooper, has enjoyed a fantastic start to the season – with the Swede not being on the pitch when the Whites have conceded a goal this term.
But it is perhaps his most recent display, during the 2-0 win over Birmingham at Elland Road on Tuesday, that deserves the most praise as his statistics highlight just how influential he was on a difficult night for Thomas Christiansen’s men.
The Blues put Leeds under plenty of pressure, but Jansson and the rest of the defence managed to keep them at bay to enable the Whites to register their sixth clean sheet in a row in the league.
| Blocks | Attempted dribbles | Successful dribbles | Total Clearances | Duels Won | Interceptions | Total Passes | Accurate Passes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pontus Jansson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 54 | 44 |
Jansson featured near the top of the stats in a number of areas amongst the Leeds side in the victory.
As well as winning five duels, only Eunan O’Kane made more successful passes than the 44 the Sweden international made, while Luke Ayling and Kalvin Phillips topped the interception charts, both making just one more than the two Jansson made.
The 26-year-old made the most blocks of any Leeds player on show, but it is the number of clearances that Jansson made that catches the eye.
No player in the Championship made more than the 18 that Jansson did across all the fixtures on Tuesday night, and those clearances proved especially important on a night when Birmingham applied plenty of pressure.
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