Our View

‘They’ve looked sharp in the opening exchanges of 2021/22’ – Leeds United v West Ham United: Our View

|
Image for ‘They’ve looked sharp in the opening exchanges of 2021/22’ – Leeds United v West Ham United: Our View

Elland Road plays host to Leeds United’s clash with West Ham United tomorrow.

Leeds have struggled to get going in the Premier League this season and, after five fixtures, are still searching for their first victory.

It’s tough for Marcelo Bielsa at the moment. Leeds have a host of injuries and will be without Patrick Bamford against West Ham on Saturday.

That’s an undoubted blow for Leeds and, given the fact West Ham are knocking on the door of the top-six, it makes tomorrow’s fixture even tougher.

Here, the LeedsAllOver team – Kris (FA5), Toby (Neutral) & Alfie (N12) ­– offer up their predictions:

I think it’s a very tough game to get optimistic for. We’re usually verging on threadbare anyway, and now we’re even worse off thanks to injuries.

We face a West Ham side that are flying at the moment, even with their defeat to Man United last weekend, and they’re welcoming back Michail Antonio to their front line.

You’d imagine he’ll be frothing at the mouth thinking of the defence he’s going to be up against and I think that if we’re to get anything from this, it needs to be a brilliant defensive shift.

The midfield need to give the defence a lot more cover this week than they have previously because I fear for what the runs of Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek could do to us if we’re not dealing with them.

That being said, we still have plenty of talent in our squad beyond these absentees to cause any team damage, so there’s goals in this.

I’m not expecting a result though. 2-3 Hammers.

Circumstances mean that this looks like being an absolutely huge task for Leeds.

While Marcelo Bielsa’s side have rather staggered through the season so far, West Ham have been really impressive at the start of the campaign, and will arrive at Elland Road brimming with confidence after that midweek cup win over Manchester United.

Indeed, you would imagine that a fit, fresh and very much on form Michail Antonio will be relishing his chance to make an impact against what looks like being a very makeshift Leeds defence with so many injury and suspension issues.

At the other end, Patrick Bamford’s absence also means that Leeds will be missing a key attacking threat, with their decision not to bring in another centre forward this summer something that could arguably now be called in to question.

It seems therefore, that everything appears to be pointing in West Ham’s favour going into this one. Away win, 3-1.

The injuries Leeds are having to contend with make it so hard to be positive heading into a fixture like this.

It isn’t just Bamford missing, there’s a lack of depth at centre-back that means Charlie Cresswell is being thrown in the deep end. There’s also doubt surrounding the availability of Jack Harrison and Raphinha.

Leeds will be fielding another makeshift XI against a West Ham side that have really impressed me over the last season and a bit.

David Moyes has them doing exactly what he wants and they’ve looked sharp in the opening exchanges of 2021/22.

The only saving grace for me is that they’ve had to play four fixtures in 10 days, where Leeds have had three in nine. Could they be feeling that and open the door for Leeds to catch them cold? It’s a possibility, but Declan Rice didn’t play in the week and Michail Antonio has had over a week off, so their main men will still be fresh.

A tough fixture anyway, made tougher by Leeds’ packed treatment room.

It’s hard to predict anything other than a convincing away victory. 0-2.

Share this article

Leeds United Season Ticket Holder at Elland Road for over 20 seasons. Currently nestled in N12, but occasionally offering views from the press box. We’ve been through it all together? You bet.