The opening round of Premier League matches after the international break concludes on Wednesday evening when the champions Manchester City restart their league campaign with a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United.
City have already seen Arsenal move eight points clear of them and they will want to reduce that gap to five, while Leeds sit just two points above the drop zone and while they will see this as a free hit any sort of result will be welcomed.
Where to watch
As with all the other matches in this round the action will be shown live and in full on the Amazon Prime Video service. The build-up to the game begins at 7pm and kick off in Yorkshire is at 8pm.
Leeds United
I think it is fair to say it has been an up and down season for Leeds United so far. They probably didn’t want the World Cup break to come when it did because they had just won two of their previous three matches to move themselves out of the bottom three and give them the luxury of looking up rather than down. They will have to go again now though and couldn’t have asked for a harder restart to their season.
Leeds have no problem scoring goals. Only Leicester City in the bottom half of the table have scored more than them but keeping them out of their own net has been much more of a problem. They have conceded 26 in 14 matches and that record isn’t likely to improve much in this match. It is easy for Leeds to look ahead to January where surely reinforcements will arrive but in the here and now they need to find a way to be a little more compact.
Manchester City
I think based on what they have offered up over the last five seasons we expected more from Manchester City than we got in the first part of the campaign. That sounds a bit daft when you consider that they won 10 of their 14 league matches but losing at home to Brentford immediately prior to the World Cup break shows that they aren’t bullet proof which is interesting when you consider they are three wins behind Arsenal now.
The one thing City do have in their disposal is a huge amount of goals. They have played two games fewer than most teams in the league but they are already the top scorers in it by quite some way. They are pretty good at the back as well but they might not be quite as tight as they have been in recent seasons. They went into the break with just one clean sheet in their last five matches which is unlike them.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Team News
Leeds United are hopefully that despite a recent bout of glandular fever, goalkeeper Illan Meslier will be available between the sticks. There will be no Tyler Adams though as he is suspended after a red card last time out.
Manchester City will resume their Premier League season without Julian Alvarez who is still away celebrating his World Cup win. Ruben Dias is out with a hamstring injury while there will be no Elland Road return for Kalvin Phillips as Guardiola has criticised his fitness.
Betting
Manchester City scored 11 goals without reply against Leeds United last season and I think there is a genuine case to be made that they are stronger in attacking areas with Erling Haaland around and certainly more vulnerable in defensive areas with Ruben Dias missing and one or two other key cogs in the defensive unit either out of form or not in prime condition. That all makes me think we are going to finish a high scoring week in the Premier League with more goals.
Leeds are averaging more than two goals against them this season while City are only a shade under three goals for on average. Leeds do have goals in them though and the one thing we know is they don’t possess the ability to shut up shop and look to contain a side. That all makes me think that even a 3.5 goal line isn’t going to be high enough in this one as this could go crazy pretty quickly. I’ll take the over there and I’ll also have a small go on Erling Haaland to bag a hat trick, something he has done three times in his City career and in a game where the chances should come along in regular supply.
Tips
Back Over 3.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back E.Haaland to score a hat trick for a 1/10 stake at 6.50 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
