Leeds vs Man Utd Preview and Betting Tip – DS
Leeds vs Man Utd Preview
Our two bets in midweek went awry. Liverpool won, as predicted, but Inter couldn’t take any of the chances they created. Calhanoglu committed a foul that 99 times out of 100 would be a yellow card but the ref on Wednesday thought otherwise. One of those nights, unfortunately. Let’s hope for a change of luck this weekend as we look at Leeds vs Man Utd.
This will be the first Premier League Roses Derby at Elland Road with a crowd present since October 2003. The Leeds fans have been waiting a long time for this day and they’ll have nearly twenty years’ worth of pent up anger, bile and hatred to unleash upon this United team. It’ll be a cauldron and this won’t be one for the faint of heart. Both teams will fancy their chances, hopefully it’s a humdinger.
Leeds
I fancied Leeds to build on their performance in last year’s Premier League but it hasn’t happened. Marcelo Bielsa’s side are still worryingly close to the drop zone and they need to start picking up more points. To be fair to Bielsa, they have been missing some key players for long spells with injuries. Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford are important cogs in the Bielsa machine and without them, they have struggled.
They gave a glimpse of what they are capable of in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Aston Villa a couple of weeks ago. That was the old Leeds but they then reverted to this season’s version with an absolutely awful performance at Everton. They have now conceded 46 goals this season. Only Norwich have conceded more with 50. They’ve been struggling at the other end of the pitch too and that is hardly a recipe for success.
There have been some positives for Leeds, chiefly the impact that Dan James has made since joining in the transfer window. He was electric against Aston Villa where he played as a central striker, bagging a brace. His pace will cause any defence problems and he’ll be licking his lips at the prospect of coming up against his old team mate Harry Maguire on Sunday. The fact that Leeds will have 35,000 passionate fans behind them is another big plus for them, especially against a mentally fragile team like Man Utd.
Man Utd
Ralf Rangnick’s men won 2-0 vs Brighton in midweek but don’t be fooled by the scoreline. This was a match that Brighton dominated in the first half and Utd could have had no complaints if they were three or four goals down at half-time. A clinical finish from Ronaldo put Utd in front but it wasn’t until after Dunk was sent off that Utd got on top. Even when they were against 10 men, Brighton missed a couple of great chances to equalise before a late Bruno goal put the match to bed.
That is four matches now where Utd have struggled and is there any reason to expect differently tomorrow? They’ll draw encouragement from their two big wins vs Leeds at Old Trafford of course, but playing them at Elland Road in front of fans that will be baying for blood will be a different proposition.
Ralph Hasenhuttl commented after the Southampton 1-1 draw that ‘everyone knows that Utd aren’t great in reverse’. He is spot on. They are up against one of the hardest running teams in the EPL on Sunday and I’m not sure some of these Utd players will fancy putting the required shift in. There is no doubt that this Utd squad has enough ability to beat Leeds but will they have the stomach for a proper scrap in the white hot atmosphere at Elland Road?
Leeds vs Man Utd Possible Lineups
Leeds: Meslier, Llorente, Koch, Ayling, Struijk, Forshaw, Klich, Harrison, Rodrigo, Raphinha, James.
Man Utd: De Gea, Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Shaw, Fred, Pogba, Bruno, Sancho, Rashford, Ronaldo.
Leeds vs Man Utd Betting Tip
Leeds are 4.2 underdogs, the draw is 4.0 and the Red Devils are 1.94. We came unstuck with our bet on Southampton to beat Utd but it is worth opposing them again today. If Leeds are in the same mood that they were vs Villa, they are capable of scoring three or four against this Utd team (once they take their chances).
Yes, they have been way too open defensively and a clean sheet is unlikely but if the crowd energises them and create a hostile atmosphere, this Utd team could wilt. At odds of 6.5 it is worth backing Leeds to win and both teams to score.
Footballers have a habit of coming back to haunt their former clubs and Dan James will be keen to do exactly that. The Welsh frontman has bags of pace and he has scored three in his last five Premier League outings. Bielsa will likely deploy him through the middle again and it is not hard to imagine him getting in behind the Utd backline at least once or twice. The 12.0 about him to score first is tempting but I’ll play it safe and back him to score at anytime at odds of 4.5.
