Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has predicted an opening day draw for Leeds United when Wolverhampton Wanderers visit Elland Road on Saturday.
Leeds collected four points from Wolves last season – coming from two goals behind to win 3-2 at Molineux in their previous outing. Nonetheless, Merson believes Leeds will miss Kalvin Phillips and expects his position to be extremely tough to fill.
“Jesse Marsch did well towards the end of last season, but he’ll have to do without Kalvin Phillips this year,” Merson wrote in his Sportskeeda column.
TAKE PART: Squad concerns, new arrivals, Jesse Marsch approval - 'The Big Leeds United Forum'
“Leeds struggled last year, and they’ll need to win this game if they don’t want another struggle in the Premier League.”
Merson also pointed towards Wolves’ inconsistency. Despite challenging for European qualification for the majority of last season, Bruno Lage’s charges registered just two points from their final seven matches to limp to a 10th place finish.
“Wolves are a funny team – you never know what you’re going to get,” Merson wrote. “One minute they look brilliant and the next, they look like they’re not going to score for a month.”
Finding the net was undoubtedly one of Wolves’ striking weaknesses last term. No side in the top half scored fewer than their total of 38 goals, while they’ll also be without their main talisman Raul Jimenez, who has been ruled out for ‘a number of weeks’.
Merson’s Prediction: Leeds United 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
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