Leeds took a huge step towards Premier League safety with victory at fellow strugglers Watford, whose own survival hopes were dealt another blow at Vicarage Road.
Raphinha's fierce left-footed strike from the edge of the area gave the visitors the lead after the Hornets had twice gone close through Imran Louza and Cucho Hernandez.
Ismaila Sarr squandered a golden opportunity to fire Watford level in the second half, before Rodrigo capitalised on a dreadful mix-up between Hassane Kamara and Samir to double the visitors' advantage.
Leeds compounded Watford's misery when Jack Harrison beat Ben Foster with a powerful shot into the far corner to complete the scoring.
The result leaves Watford six points from safety, while Leeds are now nine points above the drop zone - although they have played three games more than 18th-placed Burnley, who travel to bottom club Norwich on Sunday.
Afterwards, Leeds boss Jesse Marsch said: “It's a massive three points when you look at the table.
“I think there was a moment where the team wasn't at its highest in confidence so the first job was to try to create a little bit of calmness in the group and then we talked immediately about tactical things, about trying to transform the way we played.
“I've been very positive with them and I've seen a group that's willing and wants to fight for everything and wants to learn and grow every day. It's been a pleasure to be their coach.
“They are hungry for more, they are obviously hungry to stay in the league but they are hungry to try to develop and get better and be the best they can be. I really like being here, it's been a lot of fun but we still have more work to do.
“We've talked a lot about defending as a group – it's not just about our goalkeeper and back-line – and that we understand tactically how we want to make it difficult for the opponent at all times. Different opponents have presented different challenges to us
“It's been almost like a pre-season – it's been six weeks that we've been together and every day we're talking about some new topics and trying to fine tune a lot of the principles that we want to put in place.
“But it's not a pre-season, it's a relegation fight so I've been drawing on the mentality of the group a lot – they are fantastic in that way. We have a lot of good leaders in the group and they work their butts off. It's a pleasure to work with them every day and we've got to keep going."
