Leeds United welcome Leicester City to Elland Road this evening with both sides needing a win to create a gap to the bottom three this week.
The battle to stay in the Premier League has seen a few teams move well clear of trouble in April, but Leeds and Leicester both find themselves firmly in trouble as things stand.
A clash at Elland Road presents both Javi Gracia and Dean Smith with the opportunity to pick up a vital win that could spur their sides onto staving off the threat of relegation.
Leeds come into this fixture off the back of three straight losses with 13 conceded, while the Foxes will be lifted by their recent 2-1 win from behind against Wolves at the King Power Stadium.
Here, we look at two predictions that pundits have made ahead of kick-off this evening…
Chris Sutton
Both Leeds and Leicester have been two of the better goalscoring sides in the relegation scrap this season, but problems for both come at the back.
Leeds’ defence needs no further scrutiny than it’s currently getting, but BBC pundit Chris Sutton believes that it the Foxes’ issues shouldn’t be ignored either.
Writing his predictions, he tipped a 2-1 home win for the Whites:
“I keep tipping Leeds to pick up points at home and to be fair I have only been about 10 goals out. I backed them to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and draw 1-1 with Liverpool and they lost those games 5-1 and 6-1.
“Javi Gracia has picked up three wins and a draw in his nine league games in charge, which is the reason they aren’t in the relegation zone, but he must have massive worries about his defence and only Bournemouth have conceded more goals in the top flight this season.
“I don’t fancy Leeds to keep a clean sheet here, but Leicester have defensive problems of their own.
“The Foxes’ win over Wolves on Saturday was enormous for their new manager Dean Smith because it got them out of the bottom three, and with a home game against Everton to come on Monday they could open up a bit of a gap on the relegation zone in the space of a week.
“I don’t think that will happen, though. For no reason whatsoever I am going to say a home win for Leeds. They have been smashed in their past two games at Elland Road but this might be third time lucky for me, as well as them.”
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Paul Merson
Merson joins Sutton in thinking this game is a very tough one to call, given how both sides have played lately.
A win against Wolves was a huge boost for the away side, but playing at Elland Road is a different proposition, according to Paul Merson.
When writing his predictions for Sportskeeda, he claimed a 1-1 result is on the cards tonight:
“Leicester pulled off a phenomenal result last week. They were 1-0 down to Wolves and with the way they’ve been playing, completing a comeback and winning the game will give them so much confidence.
“Leicester made some changes against Wolves, and I think they needed to do that. They’ve got Leeds and Everton up next and if they win both games, they’re safe. This is a big week for them.
“This is a huge football match, and it’s a hard one to call. Leeds have conceded 11 goals in their last two home games. I think Leeds will be very cagey this week. They play gung-ho football at home, but I don’t think they’ll do that this time. I think we’ll see a draw in this match.”