Leeds United vs Manchester City
Time – India: 10.30 PM; UK: 5.30 PM (Saturday)
Venue: Elland Road
Leeds United have made a brilliant start to life in the Premier League after being out of top flight for 16 years.
A 4-3 defeat at Liverpool on the opening day was a glimpse of things to come from Marcelo Bielsa’s exciting side. They beat Fulham 4-3 in the next game at Elland Road and produced dogged performance to win 1-0 at Sheffield United in the local Yorkshire derby last weekend.
On the other hand, Manchester City beat Wolves in their first game of the season but produced a shocking defensive performance to lost 5-2 to Leicester City at home last weekend.
Their defensive woes have continued to bog them down and they are up against a Leeds side who will not be holding back under Bielsa.
It will also be a meeting between Marcelo Bielsa and Pep Guardiola. The Spaniard considers the Leeds manager as one of his coaching mentors and the famous interaction between the two in Argentina, almost 20 years back has been well-documented.
Leeds United vs Manchester City: Head-to-Head
Total matches (all competitions): 104
Leeds United wins: 42
Manchester City wins: 45
Drawn games: 17
Leeds United and Manchester City have not faced each other in the Premier League since 2004, the year the Whites got relegated. Their most recent meeting came in the FA Cup but that was also more than seven years back.
Manchester City have a slight edge over Leeds since their first meeting in 1924 despite Leeds having played the post-Abu Dhabi Manchester City just once and that too in the FA Cup, which the Whites lost 4-0.
Leeds United vs Manchester City: Recent form
Leeds United: W-W-L-L-W (all competitions)
Manchester City: W-L-W-W-L (all competitions)
Following the defeat at Liverpool, Leeds United have been in good form and have beaten Fulham and Sheffield United in a very confident start to the Premier League season. They did lose to Hull City in the EFL Cup on penalties but Marcelo Bielsa played a second-string side against the Championship team.
Manchester City did beat Burnley in the EFL Cup in midweek but their last league outing was a chastening 5-2 defeat at home to Leicester City.
Leeds United vs Manchester City: Team news
Leeds United
Leeds United will be without Jack Harrison, who is ineligible to face his parent club and Pablo Hernandez, Adam Forshaw and Kiko Casilla are still injured. Midfielder Adam Forshaw has continued to remain on the sidelines with a hip injury, as it has been the case for the last one year.
New signing Diego Llorente could make his debut if Marcelo Bielsa decides to shake up his back-line for Manchester City’s visit.
Manchester City
John Stones remains doubtful after missing the last three games and Oleksandr Zinchenko suffered a fresh injury this week, just when he was on the cusp of returning.
Manchester City are still without their senior strikers Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero who have continued to remain sidelined due to injuries. Ruben Dias is likely to make his debut and slot straight into the team after joining Manchester City from Benfica this week.
Leeds United vs Manchester City: Probable XI
Leeds United: Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Llorente, Dallas; Phillips; Costa, Klich, Roberts, Alioski; Bamford.
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Mendy; Fernandinho, Rodri; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden; Sterling
Leeds United vs Manchester City: Where to watch
India: Star Sports 2, Star Sports Select HD 2
UK: Sky Sports Main Event (with the fake crowd noise), Sky Sports Premier League (without the fake crowd noise)
Stream in India: Disney+ Hotstar
Stream in UK: Sky Go
Leeds United vs Manchester City: Prediction
Manchester City showed against Leicester City that they remain defensively vulnerable against teams who are willing to take them on and rest assured, Leeds United will have a go at them.
Leeds have shown in their first three games they have goals in their team and no matter who they face, Marcelo Bielsa’s side will look to play on the front foot.
However, the Whites could also be an ideal team for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s men will not have to worry about playing against a team with ten men behind the ball.
Manchester City will have space to exploit in the Leeds backline and they have the quality to punish them.
It is likely to be an entertaining game with goals at both ends but the great quality of Manchester City will likely come through over the course of the 90 minutes.
Leeds United vs Manchester City predicted scoreline: 2-4
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