Brenden Aaronson’s form is picking up with 2026 on the horizon.
Aaronson helped Leeds United earn a 1-1 draw at Sunderland on Sunday, setting up the Lilywhites’ equalizing goal at the Stadium of Light. The U.S. men’s national team midfielder now has three league assists on the season, with two of those coming in his last four appearances.
The host Black Cats struck first through Simon Adingra’s opening goal, but Leeds United would fight back early in the second half. Aaronson raced towards the 18-yard box from the right wing before drilling a low cross that Dominic Calvert-Lewin flicked home for a 1-1 equalizer.
Aaronson played the full 90 minutes in the match as the teams shared the spoils from Wearside. The veteran midfielder earned Man of the Match honors, after completing his 18th appearance of the campaign.
Despite a slow start to the match, Leeds Unitedâs second-half fight back has Aaronson pleased with the result overall against one of the leagueâs surprise clubs.
âWe need to keep going, of course,â he said in a club interview. âIt is a long season. We wanted three points, of course, but to get an away point like that is huge, so we are really happy about it.â
Leeds United will close 2025 in 16th place in the league table, seven points clear of the relegation zone.
Up next for Daniel Farke’s men is a trip to reigning league champions Liverpool on New Year’s Day before back-to-back matches against Manchester United (home) and Newcastle United (away).
I wonder if Leeds fans have stopped trashing him. Looks like most US fans here have stopped trashing him. It’s like in baseball. A player who hits ;300 doesn’t get 3 hits in every 10 at bats, but averages out to that. A player can got 0 for 6, then 3 for 4. This is true in many sports; everyone has good stretches and poor stretches. It wasn’t all that long ago that a lot of people were wondering what was wrong with Pulisic, now he’s a leading scorer in Italy.
He ditched them when they got relegated (thatâs how they see it). He had 9g 2a last season started almost every match and helped earn promotion and that didnât matter. It will take more than some nice assists to overcome him leaving for Union Berlin. Also the USMNT didnât pay 30 million for him so US fans are more forgiving.
If his end product continues to improve, BA could become a much more impactful player for Leeds and the USMNT. I mean he is at the start of his prime years.
Unlucky to not have a goal today too. Effort in the first half was cleared off the line.
Been in pretty good form the past month.
congrats to DC-L, I liked his reaction to his teammate BA, too đ
BA with another good shift today