Leeds United vs Manchester City result predicted by Mark Lawrenson
Mark Lawrenson has predicted a “comfortable” Manchester City win in Sam Allardyce’s first game as Leeds United boss.
The 68-year-old has been drafted in at late notice to rescue a season spiralling out of control, but has just four games to do it and a trip to the title-chasing reigning champions first on the agenda.
Lawrenson expects the Whites manager to concentrate on stopping his side from conceding so much, and while he believes there will be changes to the City line up he thinks there will still be more than enough to record a 3-0 home win on Saturday (6 May).
For his Paddy Power predictions he said: “The first thing to say with Sam Allardyce coming in at Leeds is he’ll want to make them difficult to beat, but they’ve been conceding goals like there’s no tomorrow and City are on a great run.
“Kevin De Bruyne didn’t even play in midweek so is rested coming into this and we all know about Haaland and his record.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if Pep Guardiola changes his team around some more ahead of the Champions League tie next week, but they’ve so many outstanding players they can still cope with Leeds. I’ll go for a comfortable City win.”
Lion’s den
Nobody is expecting Allardyce to perform miracles in his first few days as manager to the point where a win is likely at the Etihad, but in a madcap season there is acknowledgement that it could happen.
Hope may have evaporated after the first 10 minutes, but if Leeds United were to get to half time level then some sort of result might be on.
As long as another heavy defeat is avoided the new man in will feel he has something to work with, and if results elsewhere go his way the damage won’t be too severe.
Points on the board at this late stage are invaluable, and with a maximum of 12 available it would make a big difference to even get one in Manchester.
Whether he sticks with Illan Meslier in goal will be his first big decision, after the Frenchman showed his confidence was shot with two more errors in defeat at Bournemouth last week (30 April).
Getting the defensive combination right, and finding an answer to a porous midfield, should tighten things up to give Willy Gnonto and company a platform to perform in attack.
In other Leeds United news, Richard Keys has hit back at Jamie Carragher’s criticism and commended the “clever” thing Allardyce has already done.