Chris Sutton predicts result of high intensity Leeds United v Aston Villa clash with Jesse Marsch banned
Elland Road is the key for Leeds United against Aston Villa this weekend as Chris Sutton has predicted the Whites to return to action with a win.
After weeks without a game Jesse Marsch will finally see his side in action on Sunday (2 October), but having received a touchline ban for his sending off against Brentford (3 September) he will witness it at a distance.
Despite that Sutton believes that United will be lifted by their own support in West Yorkshire while Steven Gerrard’s Villa side are bad on the road, and has therefore predicted a 2-1 home win.
For his BBC Sport predictions column Sutton said: “Leeds boss Jesse Marsch won’t be in the dugout after his red card against Brentford last month.
“His side will still play with the same great intensity though, and Elland Road always seems to lift them. At home is where you feel it is going to happen for them.
“Villa got a big win over Southampton last time, but their results on the road so far have been poor, with three defeats out of three, and I don’t see that changing here.”
Re-set
Although the form was heading in the wrong direction a month ago, it’s been so long without a game in light of the postponements and the international break that this is a new start.
Players back from injury and others lifted by performances on international duty give the Whites a boost heading into this one, and leaves Marsch with the luxury of some fairly considerable competition for places in attacking areas.
A win against a Villa side who lost two more of this year’s big signings to injury in recent weeks, with Lucas Digne and Boubacar Kamara ruled out, would put the club back on course ahead of a packed run before the World Cup.
With the visitors unlikely to be expansive as they come to terms with their absentees it will be up to Marsch to ensure that his players are wise to being hit on the counter.
He will also need to address a defence that looked like the 2021/22 vintage in the 5-2 defeat at Brentford if he wants to arrest a slide that was threatening to develop before the extended break.
It will no doubt become a major inconvenience later in the season, but after a strong start to the year was starting to fade it looks like the way the fixtures have fallen could have handed United a good opportunity to put things right.
Villa are only just recovering from a bad start and have lost multiple key players, so if the home side can overcome any rustiness they are certainly in a stronger position going into this one.
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