Leeds United are looking to make their way back to the Premier League after fifteen years, but first they need to get past Derby County on Wednesday at Elland Road in the second leg of the Championship Playoff semi-finals. The Peacocks won the first leg 1-0, Kemar Roofe scored the decisive goal in the second half, giving Marcelo Bielsa's men a good advantage ahead of the second leg. Leeds also won both matches against Derby during the regular season, 4-1 away and 2-0 at home. Overall, Leeds have won four of the last six direct meetings, while Derby have collected just one victory.
Leeds United got relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2003-2004 season and since then they were unable to find their way back up, on the contrary, they even spent a few seasons down in League One. Last summer they appointed experienced Argentinian coach Marcelo Bielsa as manager and the boss led them to a third-place finish in the Championship, just six points behind second-placed Sheffield United. This is the best season the Peacocks had since they got relegated from the Premier League, now they only need to wrap it up with an eagerly-awaited promotion. They will have to do without striker Kemar Roofe in the second leg, while midfielder Adam Forshaw is also injured and expected to miss out. Ezgjan Alioski and Barry Douglas are also sidelined for the home side.
Derby County dropped down from the Premier League in 2008 and, after a few seasons of mediocrity in the Championship, they got into the playoffs in four of the last six seasons. In the 2013-2014 season they lost to Queens Park Rangers in the playoff final, two years later they lost in the semi-finals to Hull City, and last season they were dropped in the semi-final by Fulham. They are going against the odds this time as well, the 1-0 first-leg defeat puts them in a precarious position, but anything can happen in such tense matches. They did have a six-game unbeaten streak going before the first leg, they should gain some confidence from that. Striker Martyn Waghorn is an injury doubt for manager Frank Lampard after having missed the first leg, while Ashley Cole,Curtis Davies, Craig Forsyth, Craig Bryson and Ikechi Anya are injured.
Probable line-ups:
Leeds: Casilla - Ayling, Copper, Jansson, Dallas - Phillips - Hernandez, Klich, Shackleton, Harrison - Bamford
Derby: Roos - Bogle, Keogh, Tomori, Malone - Mount, Johnson, Holmes - Wilson, Marriott, Lawrence
My prediction: Leeds to win 1-0, the Rams don't seem to have enough quality to turn things around in this tie.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Leeds win - 1.72
Draw - 4.00
Derby win - 5.00
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Comments (1)
sharpe
05/14/19, 02:05:17 PM
Big advantage for Leeds because of the win in the first match now, but hopefully for the visitors in this game and their manager Frank Lampard they still didn't...
Big advantage for Leeds because of the win in the first match now, but hopefully for the visitors in this game and their manager Frank Lampard they still didn't say their final word and have more to show on the field in this one. It's tough to predict a game like this one really but I believe Leeds would just be able to hold on to their advantage although it probably won't be that easy, 1-1 is my guess.
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