Mark Lawrenson predicts scoreline of Leeds United clash v Southampton
Leeds United will face Southampton in a crucial Premier League game on Saturday (25 February) at Elland Road, and Mark Lawrenson predicts the home side to pick up all three points.
There will be a new manager, Javi Gracia, in the Leeds dugout, and Lawrenson is “leaning” towards the Whites as a result. He feels that Gracia was “unlucky” at Watford, and predicts a 2-1 win for the Whites.
Southampton had a “great result” last week after they picked up a 2-1 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
“Southampton had a great result at Chelsea last week and Leeds did the usual thing of running loads but they didn’t look like scoring as they lost to Everton,” said Lawrenson to Paddy Power.
“But Leeds are at home and it’s Javi Gracia’s first game in charge so I’m leaning towards them. Gracia was a little unlucky at Watford and it was a bit of a merry-go-round at the time. It’ll be interesting to see how Southampton approach this because last week was a free hit. Leeds 2-1 Southampton.”
Survival
Every new manager comes with new ideas, and it’s a fresh start for the club, but the situation for Leeds is somewhat different.
The club failed in their approach to lure top targets after Jesse Marsch was sacked earlier this month. Leeds wanted to stick with caretaker boss Michael Skubala but after three defeats in the last four games, the club felt the urgency to appoint a permanent boss.
Gracia’s first task will be to avoid relegation, and he has only 15 games in hand to achieve the target. Leeds are 19th in the league table at the moment, but they are capable of producing better results.
Southampton are rock bottom in the league table, and it’s a relegation six-pointer. Leeds need to win these games to boost their survival hopes, but Southampton are capable of causing an upset.
There will be excitement among the Leeds players with the new manager coming in, and let’s hope they can pick up all three points on Saturday and get out of the drop zone.
In other Leeds United news, the club are now leading the race to sign an in-demand young attacking talent from a European giant.