Leeds United took a giant step towards Premier League safety on Saturday with a routine 3-0 win over this season\u2019s cannon fodder Wolves at Elland Road, and even though far from their best, it was another result that demonstrated why Daniel Farke\u2019s mid-season adjustment to a 3-5-2 formation is here to stay.<\/p>\n
The Whites had a simple target this season upon their return to the Premier League: survival. With five games left to play, Leeds<\/a> almost look home and hosed, and while everyone associated with the all-too-superstitious West Yorkshire side is not counting any chickens just yet, it would take the most dramatic of collapses if they were to go down from this point.<\/p>\n Now 15th, eight points clear of Tottenham and six clear of West Ham<\/a>, Opta gives Leeds just a 0.4% chance of relegation.<\/p>\n Put into context, no team in Premier League history has ever been relegated after accruing 39 points at this point in the season.<\/p>\n Despite that, and even following a sun-drenched win over Wolves in a game that actually had \u2018first game of the season\u2019 vibes \u2013 was it the sunshine, the win over Man Utd a few days prior, or the brass band playing outside the East Stand pre-match, who knows, maybe a combination of all three? \u2013 Leeds fans will not yet relax.<\/p>\n But a point (or better) at Bournemouth, who have European aspirations of their own, on Wednesday ought to be enough for Leeds.<\/p>\n And with an FA Cup semi-final to come on Sunday against Chelsea at Wembley, this really is turning into an impressive first season back among the elite for Leeds.<\/p>\n As widely documented, the catalyst for change came at half-time during the clash against Manchester City at the Etihad at the end of November.<\/p>\n Faced with the sack and in a real \u2018f*** it\u2019 moment, Farke<\/a> decided to roll the dice and revert from his career-long 4-3-2-1 formation to a lesser-seen 3-5-2.<\/p>\n The results were devastating and, more or less, instant.<\/p>\n Fighting back from 2-0 down to Pep Guardiola\u2019s side, Leeds quickly pulled it back to 2-2. They eventually succumbed to a late Phil Foden goal, but Farke had seen enough from the formation to employ it again days later as Chelsea were dispatched 3-1 on a bitterly cold early December night, before they ground out a point in a 3-3 thriller with Liverpool.<\/p>\n