England Premier League
Sunday 20th February 2022
Kick off at 2pm GMT
Venue: Elland Road
Match Preview:
Leeds are six points from the bottom three and while the club should be safe this season they will need to improve their form. It’s been a real hit back to reality for Marcelo Bielsa’s side after last season although the club have been hit by some key injuries.
Leeds haven’t recorded a win in the league for a month now and their last game finished in a 3-0 defeat against Everton without registering a shot on target. The club have had to play their last two games away from home so they will be happy to be here once again although face very difficult opposition. We also have to factor in that Leeds have won just 1 game at home from their past four and their last game here ended in defeat against Newcastle.
Victory, which would be a surprise could take Leeds up one place and they have the pressure on them given that Everton and Newcastle could go past Bielsa’s side this weekend.
Manchester United are in 4th place and the objective is simple and that is to keep winning games. The problem for the Red Devils has been a lack of consistency and even if they are not losing games they are also finding it hard to win 3 games in a row, do that and they might well be stamping their right to finish in 4th place. At this time the club have 4 teams chasing them for that spot and some have valuable games in hand.
Form for United has been good with 11 points from their last 15 and their last game finished in a 2-0 home win over Brighton. It felt significant given that the Portuguese pair of Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes scored- these two excellent players had largely struggled with form for the past two months, so is this the beginning of their turnaround? It is an important question because if these two are on form they could well fire United to Champions League qualification for next season.
Team News:
Leeds: Patrick Bamford still has an on going foot injury in a ravaged season for the forward and won’t play, there is no return date for him either. Stuart Dallas has a knock and will be assessed. Liam Cooper is still out with a hamstring injury and isn’t due back for another two weeks. Junior Firpo has recovered from his hamstring and is being tipped to return for this game. Leo Fuhr Hjelde has a knee injury and has been ruled out initially for 3 weeks. Kalvin Phillips isn’t due back for another two weeks after his long standing hamstring injury.
Manchester United: Edinson Cavani has been ruled out with a groin injury. Nemanja Matic has recovered from injury but has a lack of match fitness but he will be assessed ahead of the game. Tom Heaton has a slight knock and is only 50/50 to make the weekend squad.
Leeds vs Man Utd Head to Head:
Last season this fixture finished 0-0.
Manchester United have scored 11 goals past Leeds in 2 out of the three games although United were at home on both occasions.
Leeds haven’t beaten Manchester United since the 2010 FA Cup meeting and it’s been almost 20 years since the club beat the Red Devils when at home.
Leeds vs Man Utd Prediction:
This could be the best value bet of the weekend and yes we understand that Manchester United have blown hot and cold all season and this hasn’t changed under Ralf Rangnick. But the club looked sharp, happy and confident against Brighton once they got past a tricky first half. Even Rangnick admitted that offloading some players in January has helped with the mood at the club, perhaps there is a shift and perhaps this United side should really be expected to beat Leeds who have struggled most of the season.
So we will back the away side and of course they have plenty of motivation to win. Leeds find it very difficult to play against United and continue to have problems with injuries which would clearly have helped them. The risk is what United will turn up. They do say when a forward scores a goal after a length of time the goals then reign in and Ronaldo is always going to be a danger so we will back him again to score on Sunday
Leeds vs Man Utd Betting Tips:
Manchester United to beat Leeds at 1.80
Anytime goalscorer: Cristiano Ronaldo at 2.25
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