Mark Lawrenson predicts Leeds United vs Bournemouth result amid ‘completely scatty’ verdict
Mark Lawrenson has predicted Leeds United to pick up a vital win at Bournemouth to get back on track in the relegation battle.
The Whites haven’t been victorious since fighting back to dispatch Nottingham Forest on 4 April, at a point where the Javi Gracia revival looked to be well under way and safety not far off.
It has been anything but since then, while the opposite has happened under Gary O’Neil in recent weeks on the south coast, but Lawrenson believes Leeds will take all three points because they deserved to also do so against Leicester on Tuesday (25 April), and has gone for a 2-1 away win.
The former Liverpool man said in his Paddy Power predictions: “I watched Leeds in midweek and they’re still completely scatty. I’ll go for Leeds to win this. They should have won the other night, Patrick Bamford should have scored and it would have been deserved. Bournemouth 1-2 Leeds.”
God send
“Completely scatty” is quite a polite way of assessing Leeds United in recent weeks, and plenty of the supporters will have been using stronger language than that.
Perhaps if Bamford hadn’t scuffed that late chance wide at Elland Road there would be more confidence around the team, but after three preceding defeats shipped 13 goals there is great trepidation ahead of this meeting with the Cherries.
Injury absences are mounting, with Max Wober still out and Luis Sinisterra done for the season on top of the increasingly crucial lack of Tyler Adams.
Whether Willy Gnonto will finally be given a start has taken most of the focus from all angles in recent days, but it is arguably the Austrian’s absence at the back that is most damaging.
West Ham showed that the Vitality isn’t quite a fortress when they comfortably eased to a 4-0 last weekend, so if Bamford and the rest of the attack can find the net early then perhaps the pressure will melt away.
There is still time, and for as long as the Whites remain outside the drop zone it is within their hands to survive, but the last win suddenly seems a long time ago so Lawrenson’s prediction coming true couldn’t be more welcome.
In other Leeds United news, there have been rumblings of problems behind the scenes at Elland Road as a BT Sport pundit suggests Gracia may have “completely lost it”.