Leeds United at Derby County preview: Welcome back, Liam and Samuel
Can the Whites pick up points on the road now with the return of two of their leading men?
Last Sunday was all about welcoming Paul Heckingbottom to Elland Road and showing him what Leeds United are all about. Well, he certainly got a taste of that. We all got a taste of the ups and down of being Leeds… all in one game.
Gallows humour chants from the stands morphed into a joint effort to inspire the players as they looked to salvage something from the game after a lacklustre first half. That first half, according to Heckingbottom, was a result of the team not understanding his orders.
Wednesday night away to Derby County however will see the focus turn to welcoming back Liam Cooper and Samuel Saiz, who seems to have been away for an age. Saiz’s efforts have been sorely missed recently, and I long to see him out there on the Pride Park pitch.
In this game, if we are to come away with anything, the team will need to understand Heckingbottom’s orders from the off. We cannot afford the early game mishaps and half-time revisions. Having been allocated just 3100 tickets, Leeds will be without the backing of their 12th man to motivate the team when things aren’t going our way. However, I still have every faith in the traveling Whites to add to the atmosphere and out-sing the home support.
Gary Rowett’s Rams side will arguably provide a sterner test than the Robins did on Sunday. They have been floating around the automatic promotion spots but are currently 4th on 58 points.
Their top scorer is Matej Vydra on 18 followed by David Nugent and Sam Winnall both on 6. Rowett has built a side based on mainly British and Championship experience and is getting results from this approach. No less than 16 players are British footballers.
The last time these two clubs met, Leeds lost 1–2 at Elland Road and the scorer of Derby’s goals was Sam Winnall, a player our new coach knows well from his Barnsley days.
The question though ia how well does Heckingbottom know his own side? How will he fit in Samu Saiz in the more rigid 4–4–2 he started Sunday’s game with?
Heckingbottom has fluctuated with formations in the past and may change to something more familiar to accommodate Saiz, who must surely feature.
Injury news
Luke Ayling is making good progress but remains side-lined as does Shaughnessy. There is no other injury news coming from United.
The Rams welcome back George Thorn to the squad. They have no new injury concerns.
Form
Leeds United: L | D | L | L | D
Derby County: D | D | W | D | L
Head-to-head
There have been 54 games at Derby between these two sides. Derby have won 23, Leeds 16 with 15 games drawn.
WHAT
Derby County vs. Leeds United
EFL Championship Fixture
#DERLEE
WHERE
Pride Park, Derby
BBC Radio Leeds, Sky Football Channel, ESPN3, International Listings
WHEN
Wednesday, 21 February 2018
7:45pm BT
WHO
Leeds United’s predicted starting XI
Wiedwald, De Bock, Cooper, Jansson, Berardi, Vieira, Forshaw, Dallas, Hernandez, Roofe, Lasogga
Derby County’s predicted starting XI
Carson, Wisdom, Keogh, Davies, Olsson, Huddlestone, Thorne, Johnson, Vydra, Lawrence, Jerome
ODDS
Leeds 19/5
Draw 13/5
Derby 10/11
PREDICTION
This will be a tough game, but Derby are not infallible. They lost last time out to Sheffield Wednesday and could only draw at home to Norwich. We are overdue a win for our recent second half efforts playing a man and or goals behind. This could be too big an ask, but I feel PH will go for the draw and so will I. 1–1 in a hard-fought draw.
