Recent Form
It’s currently unclear as to whether or not the Brazilian FA’s request to stop their players featuring in this weekend’s Premier League matches has been successful, though if it is that would be a massive hit for both these sides, but mainly the visitors.
Alisson, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino all stand to miss out here for Liverpool, while Raphinha could also be absent for the hosts.
The Reds won just two of their five matches last season when missing their Brazilian keeper and while Diogo Jota can easily fill the void left by Firmino, Fabinho looks to be the greater loss as Liverpool have won just half of their last 10 games that he’s missed, and Leeds will be looking to take full advantage on Elland Road on Sunday.
Marcelo Bielsa has done a phenomenal job with this Leeds side, achieving promotion at the second attempt before completing a top-half finish last season, and will be determined to push for a European place in some capacity this season.
The Whites have proven exceptionally difficult to beat in their return to the top-flight and although they’re winless so far this year, their record against top-six sides speaks for itself.
Indeed, when facing sides that are operating in the top-six at the time of playing, Leeds are W5-D4-L1, with that single defeat coming against Frank Lampard’s Chelsea in December last year, so they’ll certainly not roll over here.
Both Teams To Score
Leeds were certainly the league’s entertainers last season, and this season looks to be following a similar narrative as Bielsa has struggled to shore up his defence in the way he did at Championship level.
Only Leicester and Man United saw more goals per game than Leeds last season, while only West Ham have seen more than them so far this campaign, and it’s the both teams to score market that appeals massively.
That outcome has pulled through in six of Leeds’ last eight against those sides in the top-six, while it’s also happened in all three games so far this season.
Liverpool have been defensively sound so far this year, conceding just once in their three games and while we’d expect them to be more compact at the back with the return of Virgil van Dijk, Leeds will still create enough opportunities to cause some issues here.
This exact fixture last year finished 1-1, while Leeds pushed the Reds all the way at Anfield almost exactly a year ago in a 4-3 defeat, so we’d be surprised if Bielsa’s side doesn’t manage to get themselves onto the scoresheet on home soil, while Liverpool have too much attacking class for this Leeds defence to cope with.
PREDICTION:
BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
18+BeGambleAware
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