Last updated on .From the section Championship

Preston midfielder Daniel Johnson (left) was unable to clear Liam Cooper's header off the line

Tyler Roberts scored his first two goals for Leeds United as the Championship leaders Leeds cruised to a comfortable win over lowly Preston North End.

The hosts took a deserved lead before the break when centre-half Liam Cooper headed in from a Barry Douglas corner.

Leeds had numerous chances to add to their advantage, with Mateusz Klich firing over and Jack Harrison hitting the post after going clear, before Roberts opened his account for the Elland Road side with a lovely lobbed finish.

The Wales international headed home from a Klich cross to round off an excellent night for Marcelo Bielsa's men, while Preston remain second bottom.

Brentford's draw at Ipswich means Leeds are now three points clear at the top of the table after a dominant performance.

The victory against the only team who had beaten them this season, albeit in the Carabao Cup, ended a run of two successive draws and further underlined the Yorkshire side's promotion credentials.

Alex Neil's team, who are now without a win in seven league games, were overrun all over the pitch and could have lost by more but for some wasteful finishing from the hosts.

Preston's only bright spot came when Callum Robinson's effort went over the bar at 0-0 and they will look to end their poor run when Sheffield United visit Deepdale on Saturday.

At the other end of the table, Leeds will hope to stretch their unbeaten start to the season to nine games when Birmingham City visit Elland Road on the same day.

Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa:

"The first half was very good. The second half at the beginning was harder, then we dominated.

"Individual performances were important and our offensive game and defensive game were good. There are few things to criticise in this game.

"Our team was very dynamic and what we tried to do made us make links between the movement of players. Players were moving to create space for others and this worked pretty well.

"We have to underline the good performances of the individuals. Each one was high."

Preston manager Alex Neil:

"I'm obviously naturally disappointed to come away losing the game 3-0.

"We started the game really well and were on top. Then we gave the ball away on a couple of occasions and that got their tails up.

"Their movement is good. We high pressed well in the cup, which is a high-risk strategy, and managed to beat them on the back of it but today we didn't do enough going forward when we had the ball to damage Leeds. When you do that when you play good teams you're going to get hurt at the other end.

"We do have to get ourselves out of the rut we're in at the moment."