Leeds United at Burton Albion preview: Whites hope to knock-out the Brewers on Boxing Day
With five goals to none last time against Burton, Leeds hope to repeat their September dominance.
Five.
Does anyone remember early September 2017 on this day after Christmas? Was that too long ago? If you’re still a bit groggy from your holiday nog, read Jimmy’s talking points from September 10th… or at least allow this tweet to jog your memory a bit:
On September 9th, Leeds United hit their high point on the early season with a 5–0 win over Burton Albion in the EFL Cup. The Brewers were outclassed in every respect in that match, and after a 3–0 lead after the first half, the Whites simply toyed with their opponents in the second. It could’ve finished 11–0 that day.
Thomas Christiansen had Leeds in second in the table after Lasogga, Kalvin, Pablo, Kemar, and then Lasogga again made poor Stephen Bywater look like a human sieve. It was a wonderful day at Elland Road… and a sign of things to come.
Well, at least for the Brewers it was. Leeds had a rocky October and November, but they’ve turned it around in December, undefeated in the month and winners of four of the last five.
Burton Albion has never really recovered.
Five will do
The number five seems to echo around this Boxing Day feature: five goals scored by Leeds in the September fixture, fifth place for Leeds in the table on Christmas. But Burton Albion also has just five wins and five draws coming into this game… matched with 13 losses on the season. That 5–5–13 record is good for 21st place in the Championship table, with a league-worst -25 goal differential.
Looking to take advantage of that porous defense today will be the man with five letters in his first and last names: our new starting (?) striker, Kemar Roofe. With a hat trick in the away victory at Queens Park Rangers just a few weeks back, Roofe seems to have a strong hold on the position up top, bringing a different style than Chris Wood a season ago.
And yet, the man who was signed to fill Wood’s shoes might be back to take the position away from our speedy/crafty Kemar. Pierre-Michel Lasogga saw the pitch against Hull, if only as a 76th minute sub for Roofe, and given his massive performance in the 5–0 fixture in September, Thomas Christiansen might see today as the chance to re-introduce a little size into the starting XI.
Relegation Brewing?
Burton has been in the bottom three of the Championship table for much of the 2017/18 season. Their manager, Nigel Clough, hasn’t had success this season with the Championship minnows, as a poor run of form in November led to this memorable quote after a 2–0 loss to relegation-endangered Sunderland:
“Give us a few hours to enjoy the disappointment of another home defeat before we think about next week.”
That said, the smallish club has now passed Sunderland in the fight to stay out of the cellar with two recent wins: one away at Bolton (who now sit in 23rd) and one away at boring, boring Reading (who now sit in 14th). Those one-goal victories did little to fix that horrendous goal differential, but coming home for Boxing Day after two away wins, Burton should be looking to carry some real momentum into the new year, though Leeds will be their biggest test this month.
Form
Leeds: W | D |W | W | W
Burton: L | L | L | W | W
Head-to-Head
Having met only three times before, Leeds took the lead with the EFL Cup win in September with 2 wins to Burton Albion’s 1.
WHAT
Burton Albion vs. Leeds United
EFL Championship Fixture
#BTNLEE
WHERE
Pirelli Stadium, Burton Upon Trent
Sky Sports Football, LUTV, BBC Radio Leeds, ESPN3, International Listings
WHEN
Tuesday, 26 December 2017
3:00pm BT
WHO
Leeds United’s predicted starting XI
Wiedwald, Berardi, Jansson, Cooper, Ayling, Phillips, Vieira, Cibicki, Saiz, Alioski, Roofe
Burton’s predicted starting XI
Bywater, Brayford, Turner, Buxton, Flanagan, Naylor, Lund, Dyer, Miller, Scannell, Sordell
ODDS
Leeds 21/20
Draw 11/5
Burton 3/1
PREDICTION
As much as I enjoyed the game in September, and as much as I enjoyed my Christmas, I just can’t see Leeds United winning…… by five goals today. They will surely win this match though. I’ll predict a 2–1 win on Boxing Day, pushing us up towards the top four while Burton falls back into the relegation zone. MOT.
