Leeds left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson impressed by Elland Road atmosphere

Leeds’ summer signing Gabriel Gudmundsson said the Elland Road “wow” factor helped his side make a winning return to the Premier League.

Lukas Nmecha’s contentious late penalty sealed Leeds’ deserved 1-0 victory against Everton in their first game back in the top flight after a two-year absence.

The atmosphere at LS11 reached fever pitch and Sweden left-back Gudmundsson, signed for a reported £10million from Lille in July, acknowledged the fans will be key to their survival chances.

Gudmundsson told LUTV after an impressive debut: “Wow! I really enjoyed that one, I can tell you that.

“We have to have this atmosphere. It was amazing. It was so good and we need them to push us.

“It does make a difference. Obviously, you’re focused on the game, but you know, hearing the crowd shouting and singing is really nice.

“It adds a small percentage – to work and run and fight even more, so they need to keep doing that.

“In the Premier League we’re going to suffer, but we have to suffer together.”

Gudmundsson said three points in their opener was crucial for Leeds, whose next two league fixtures are at Arsenal and against Newcastle before the first international break in September.

“It was the first game and was really important to start well,” the 26-year-old left-back added. “We know what it means to get three points.

“We know that we have two upcoming games that are going to be really tough.”

Leeds are waiting to learn the full extent of Ethan Ampadu’s injury after a clattering late second-half challenge by Tim Iroegbunam eventually saw their captain forced off.

Everton boss David Moyes was furious at referee Chris Kavanagh’s penalty decision, upheld by VAR, after James Tarkowski was adjudged to have handled after leaning into Anton Stach’s deflected shot.

But Everton carried little threat and although Moyes is “desperate” to add quality in the final third, he said Toffees fans must not expect too much too soon of loan star Jack Grealish.

The England playmaker had no chance to shine after making his debut off the bench with 20 minutes left.

Moyes said: “Jack’s trained really well. I just want to bring him in at the right time rather than the expectations be too high, too quickly for him.

“I think he’s very rarely played two games in a row. He’s very rarely played three games in a row.

“So if you look into his history – we need to bring him on at the right times.

“The attacking play – we’re desperate to get more quality in. Let’s be fair, I’ve been saying for a while we have to find ways of getting that better.”