Key events
Form guide (last six): Leeds DLLWLL. Aston Villa WWWWLW.
Looks ominous for Leeds who, after a decent start, are being dragged into the relegation scrap they were perhaps expected to be part of in the first place. They dropped into the bottom three after yesterday’s results.
Villa are one of the form teams in the league. Unai Emery, talking to TV just now, says his team must keep improving having picked up five wins out of their last six. He cites their mentality and structure as key factors in the uptick in results and says he’s “very motivated” and “so, so excited” about what’s to come.
Starting lineups
Leeds (4-3-3): Perry; Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmundsson; Longstaff, Ampadu, Stach; Aaronson, Nmecha, Okafor.
Subs: Darlow, James, Calvert-Lewin, Piroe, Bijol, Tanaka, Justin,
Gnonto, Gruev.
Daniel Farke makes one change from the defeat to Nottingham Forest two weeks ago – Pascal Struijk comes in for Jaka Bijol at centre-back.
Aston Villa (4-4-1-1): Martínez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; McGinn,
Kamara, Tielemans, Buendía; Rogers; Watkins.
Subs: Bizot, Lindelöf, Barkley, Malen, Sancho, Maatsen, Bogarde, Guessand, Hemmings.
Villa also make just the one change from their last game – a 4-0 home defeat of Bournemouth – with Youri Tielemans in for the injured Amadou Onana in midfield.
Preamble
Two of English football’s grandest names face off at Elland Road this afternoon as Leeds host Aston Villa in the Premier League. Daniel Farke and Unai Emery meet in opposing dugouts for the first time in their careers and both will be looking for points they can put towards their diverging goals this season.
It’s a Championship meeting between these two teams that lingers most in the recent memory, with that controversial Mateusz Klich goal and Marcelo Bielsa then ordering his players to let Albert Adomah equalise for Villa straight from kick-off. Any drama that comes close to that today will keep us entertained.
Kick-off is at 2pm (GMT) and team news is coming right up. You can get in touch by email to offer your thoughts on the game or the season as a whole.
