Does the rot finally stop?
Leeds United will be one day short of two complete months since their last Premier League victory when they kick off at Leicester City tonight. Elizabeth II’s death and an international break have bloated that wait to an extreme duration, but however you see it, the Whites are well overdue a batch of three points.
If they play anything like they did on Sunday, when the league leaders somehow escaped Elland Road with a 1-0 win, Leeds will be strong favourites to turn over the division’s worst team. If they fail to win, the pressure on Sunday’s clash with Fulham will be turned up to 11.
While points dropped to Brighton & Hove Albion or Everton may have been excused at the start of this run, if Leeds face a newly-promoted side at home, after seven matches without a victory, there is very little time left to wait for things to turn before serious worry sets in. Jesse Marsch and his side would save everyone a lot of anguish by doing the deed in the East Midlands.
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Bamford to pick up where he left off at Leicester?
The last time Patrick Bamford played at King Power Stadium, he delivered one of his finest performances in Leeds white. The striker would provide one (spectacular) goal and two assists in a 3-1 win that was arguably the best display of that first top-flight campaign under Marcelo Bielsa.
The England international needs to get somewhere near that level and quickly if Leeds are to turn out of this nosedive. The 29-year-old may have missed a penalty on Sunday, but his overall performance was encouraging, while, more importantly, his impact on others was encouraging.
That second-half impact should mean he starts tonight, but anything longer than an hour seems unlikely given he’s only been beyond that twice this term. Bamford’s last 90 minutes for the first team was September 17 last year, when he first suffered the original injury which started this awful chain of events at Newcastle United.
Firpo’s moment
Finally, after a nine-match wait, Junior Firpo is set to make his first start of the season for the Whites. Having gone through the summer as the only senior, natural left-back in the squad, Firpo has had to wait to deliver on his status as the club’s first choice. His was the basket the club piled all their eggs into in declining to find another option.
Injuries have again conspired to set the former Barcelona man back time after time, while Pascal Struijk has been excellent in his absence. The smart money would be on an immediate recall for the Dutchman, if fit, on Sunday, but the floor is Firpo’s and if he can deliver the kind of explosive display we see from modern-day full-backs, he has that chance to make the shirt his.
Harrison to stay in the centre?
The major tactical switch at the start of last weekend’s match saw Jack Harrison plough a central furrow rather than command his usual station out wide. There were mixed results and it will be intriguing to see if Marsch continues with that.
We know Harrison and Brenden Aaronson went to Marsch with their own tactical suggestion at half-time in the Arsenal match before it paid off. That had the latter through the centre and the former on the right.
Wounded foxes?
This may be the best time to play Leicester, but we know how this ends when we say that pre-match, don’t we? Leicester prop up the table at kick-off and have their best player, James Maddison, unavailable.
This will not be a gimme for Leeds because no matches at this level seem to ever be like that, but Brendan Rodgers leads teams who get on the front foot and want to be positive in their play. That could leave space for the visitors to exploit. The frustrated home crowd are unlikely to stomach a negative, deep-lying block either.
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