Leeds United bring the latest round of Premier League action to a conclusion as they welcome Crystal Palace to Elland Road in Monday Night Football.
Victory could send Leeds tenth in the standings whereas Palace could leapfrog Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites and go tenth themselves with a win.
Team News
Leeds have no fresh injury concerns to report after Wednesday’s home defeat to Everton.
Diego Llorente (muscle), Rodrigo (groin), Gaetano Berardi, Robin Koch (both knee), Ian Poveda (ankle) and Adam Forshaw (hip) are ruled out.
Palace could welcome James McArthur back from a muscle injury alongside Joel Ward, who sat out the Eagles’ midweek win at Newcastle with a knock.
James McCarthy is unlikely to be risked if not fully recovered from a knock and could join Wilfried Zaha (muscle), Jeffrey Schlupp (hamstring), Wayne Hennessey, Mamadou Sakho, Nathan Ferguson, Connor Wickham (all thigh) and James Tomkins (eye) on sidelines.
Stat Attack
- Leeds are unbeaten in four of seven previous Premier League meetings against Palace (W3, D1, L3).
- Palace are winless in their last five trips to Elland Road in all competitions (L5).
- No penalties nor red cards have been awarded in seven previous Premier League meetings between Leeds and Crystal Palace.
- Patrick Bamford has converted 31 of his 72 shots for Leeds this season into shots on target with 11 of those attempts resulting in league goals.
- Palace’s Christian Benteke has won 68 of his 123 aerial duels in Premier League this season.
Prediction
Leeds looked very dangerous in midweek against Everton in terms of their passing play and creating opportunities, in turn cost them in defence because Everton were twice able to hit them on the counter which ultimately resulted in defeat despite a stronger second half.
Palace meanwhile showed great spirit to fight back for the win at Newcastle on Tuesday before withstanding a series of attacks, with Vicente Guaita proving key as he made many fantastic saves to keep the Magpies out.
Roy Hodgson’s Eagles will therefore be hoping for another quality defensive display given their poor record at Elland Road, because I can see Leeds coming out to attack here so definitely expect goals but if Palace can continue their consistency, they should scrape a point from this bogey ground.
Prediction: Leeds United 1-1 Crystal Palace
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