‘Soft centre in this team’ – Mark Lawrenson predicts winner in Leeds clash v Chelsea
BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson has said that Chelsea will be “too good” for Leeds United and will come away from the game on Saturday with the three points.
He says the difference will be the Leeds defence, which he claimed is the “soft centre” of Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
Writing in his regular column on the BBC Lawrenson said, “Marcelo Bielsa’s side started the season well, but have had a mixed recent run of results which saw them ship four goals in two successive games. I think the quickness of the players among some Premier League sides have caused them problems.
“The soft centre in this team is defensively.
“The front players for Chelsea will be too good for Leeds, and manager Frank Lampard also has to decide about what to do with his striker Olivier Giroud after he scored four against Sevilla.”
Lawrenson has predicted a 2-1 win for Chelsea.
Prepare for thrills and spills at the Bridge
Chelsea have kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League this season but we know that Leeds can score against anyone.
And, while Lawrenson says that Leeds have a “soft centre” Marcelo Bielsa’s men have kept consecutive clean sheets in their last two games.
Lawrenson pointed to the two 4-1 defeats that Leeds suffered against Crystal Palace and Leicester but both games could have turned out very differently.
The Palace game, in particular, was a freak result with the xG showing it to be much closer. A wonder goal from a free-kick and a weird own goal skewed the result and made it look much worse for Leeds than it was.
One thing we’re pretty sure about is that both sides will come out to attack at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.
Chelsea won’t be scared of Leeds and Leeds won’t be scared of Chelsea. Chelsea have bags of pace and Leeds have Raphinha. That could lead to an open, thrilling game with plenty of goals.
In other Leeds United news, Company filing from billionaire-owned group is huge hint new investment is imminent at Leeds