Leeds United vs Man City preview: Team news, lineups, prediction
Leeds United are aiming to go four league games unbeaten when they host Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday.
Daniel Farke‘s side have been phenomenal at Elland Road, losing just three times all season.
Leeds are currently 15th in the Premier League table, and they have a six-point lead over 18th-placed West Ham with 11 games to go.
The Whites’ match against Man City certainly won’t be easy, as Pep Guardiola‘s side are chasing another league title.
MOT Leeds News highlights everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s match.
Preview
Leeds have been fantastic at Elland Road in the Premier League, winning their last match in LS11 3-1 against Nottingham Forest on 6 February.
They then went to Stamford Bridge and came from two goals down to claim a huge point against Chelsea, with Lukas Nmecha and Noah Okafor spearheading the comeback.
The Whites also secured a valuable point at Villa Park last Saturday, despite conceding an 88th-minute equaliser.
As for Man City, they beat Newcastle 2-1 in their last outing, and they’ll feel confident of extending their winning run to six matches in all competitions.
They sit just five points behind league leaders Arsenal with a game in hand, and Guardiola will know that his team can’t afford to drop points in LS11 if they want to win the Premier League for the fifth time in six years.
Form guide
Leeds (last six games all comps): D W D W L D
Man City Villa (last six games all comps): W W W W W D
Head-to-head
The last meeting between both sides came on 29 November, when Phil Foden scored a stoppage-time winner as Man City ran out 3-2 winners at the Etihad.
Both teams have played out several memorable contests, and the 2-1 win under Marcelo Bielsa in April 2021 is the last time Leeds beat the Citizens.
Farke has a poor record against Man City, losing his last three meetings against Guardiola, with his only win coming back in September 2019.
Overall, Leeds have beaten Man City 43 times, lost 18 meetings and drawn 50 matches.
- Read more: Leeds United to continue five-year streak vs Man City if supercomputer prediction comes true
Team news and predicted lineups
Luckily for Farke, he has no fresh injury issues, which means that he can pick his line-up from the majority of his squad.
Okafor is out with a hamstring problem, although Dan James is expected to be named on the bench.
Jaka Bijol could come back into defence for James Justin, while Farke may opt to go for a striker partnership of Nmecha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Man City have both Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic on the sidelines, while it remains to be seen whether Jeremy Doku or Max Alleyne will be ready to return to the matchday squad.
Leeds predicted XI: Perri; Rodon, Bijol, Struijk; Bogle, Ampadu, Gruev, Stach, Gudmundsson; Nmecha, Calvert-Lewin
Man City predicted XI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Rodri, O’Reilly, Bernardo; Foden, Semenyo, Haaland
How I predict Leeds vs Man City to finish
Leeds haven’t lost any of their last 25 league or play-off matches at Elland Road that have kicked off after 5pm since a 6-1 defeat to Liverpool in April 2023, which was before Farke’s appointment.
With the game starting at 5:30pm, the fans will definitely play their part in the match, but it might not be enough.
Man City are on a brilliant run of form, and we’re entering that stage of the season where they seem unstoppable.
The Whites also have the small task of stopping Erling Haaland, who has 29 goal contributions in the Premier League this season.
Therefore, Man City securing a narrow 2-1 win could be the most likely outcome.
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