Leeds United welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Elland Road in a huge Premier League clash as both teams look to strengthen their survival bids.
Victory could put Leeds up into 11th whilst Brighton can rise to 16th with a win.
Team News
Diego Llorente could return for Leeds after a groin injury kept the Spaniard sidelined for the last month.
Liam Cooper (knock) and Tyler Roberts (illness) are also in contention but Kalvin Phillips is suspended, joining Gaetano Berardi, Robin Koch (both knee) and Adam Forshaw (hip) on sidelines.
Brighton could welcome Yves Bissouma back from suspension.
Steven Alzate (illness) is also in contention but Adam Lallana, Jason Steele (both illness), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (knock), Tariq Lamptey (hamstring), Aaron Connolly (groin), Jose Izquierdo (thigh), Florian Andone and Danny Welbeck (both knee) are sidelined.
Stat Attack
- This is Leeds’ first-ever Premier League meeting against Brighton.
- Leeds are unbeaten in four of six previous top flight meetings against Brighton (W2, D2, L2).
- Brighton have lost just two of their last six trips to Elland Road (W4, L2).
- Six of Patrick Bamford’s ten league goals for Leeds this season came on his left-foot.
- No Brighton player has won more aerial battles this season than the 48 fights won by Adam Webster.
Prediction
Marcelo Bielsa will be relieved that it was a much changed Leeds team that crashed out of the FA Cup in embarrassing fashion at Crawley, otherwise I would genuinely be worried coming into this game if Kiko Casilla is in goal.
Saying that, the regular team lacked the end product to get a result at Tottenham two weeks ago so hopefully the rest period enabled some players to focus on their finishing because Brighton will be a tough team to beat.
Graham Potter’s Seagulls however have endured 210 minutes of physical match play in the last six days, which could well play a part as this game wears on if tiredness kicks in for the visitors because they have definitely got a raw deal against three difficult teams.
That end product combined with strong defending though will be key for both teams so I am plumping for a score draw here.
Prediction: Leeds 1-1 Brighton
Result: Leeds 0-1 Brighton