The extended Sky Bet Championship weekend continues on Sunday lunchtime when the race for promotion is back in the spotlight when Leeds United bid to keep on the coattails of the top two when they host Preston North End at Elland Road.
Leeds are very much looking up at the top two over the remainder of the campaign while North End are fighting to stay relevant in the play-off race so this is a key Roses clash which both teams will want to win.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up in Yorkshire beginning at 11.30am ahead of a Noon kick off.
Leeds United
Leeds United had a bit of a wobbly Christmas period but in the main their season has been a positive one, which means that Daniel Farke deserves a lot of credit because this was a club that looked in a right mess as they tumbled out of the Premier League last term. Something pretty incredible is going to need to happen if Leeds are going to make it into the top two at the end of the season but whether that happens or not they look to already have the safety net of the play-offs to fall back on.
All Leeds can do is win matches and they have won their last two in the Championship and progressed from a tricky FA Cup tie in the last few weeks so they look to be settling into a nice groove with the whole of their attacking depth contributing to the cause. Where Farke has improved this team is defensively. Only Leicester have conceded fewer goals than Leeds this season and the last four wins for the Whites have been without them conceding a goal.
Preston North End
In the very early stages of the season Preston North End were blazing a trail at the top of the table but things have gone a little quiet for them over the second part of the action we have seen so far. They have lost six of their last 10 matches and found the going a little tough in the main although they do head into this match off the back of a solid win over Bristol City last week and are in a position where they can move back into the top 10 should they win here.
The big problem that North End have is at the back. Only five teams have conceded more goals than them this season and if they can’t keep goals out they are going to struggle because they are not exactly free scoring either. They are the lowest scoring team in the top half of the table by some distance and that isn’t a good combination. Preston aren’t in any danger of going down or anything like that but the season will feel like one of what might have been if it just fades away.
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Team News
Daniel Farke has confirmed that he will have Sam Byram available for this match after he has been back in training this week while Liam Cooper is available too but Pascal Struijk and Willy Gnonto will be missing.
Ryan Lowe has suggested that there has been an illness in the Preston North End camp this week but didn’t go as far as to confirm who had been affected. He did disclose that Ched Evans and Jack Whatmough will miss out with an injury.
Betting
It is hard to see anything but a Leeds United win here. Preston North End won the reverse meeting between the two on Boxing Day but Leeds were down to 10 men fairly early when their goalkeeper was dismissed which threw everything out of kilter but all things being equal Leeds should be far too good here. No team has left Elland Road with three points this season and only four have left this part of Yorkshire with so much as a point. I don’t see that changing here.
I’m not a massive fan of backing teams to cover a -1.5 goal handicap but if there is an illness in the Preston camp then they could struggle the longer the game goes on and Leeds have so many good options off the bench that fresh players could quickly put this one to bed. Leeds have been pretty rampant at home this season and Preston don’t score many goals and the absence of Ched Evans is unlikely to help with that. This just feels like a comfortable Leeds win to me.
Tips
Back Leeds United (-1) to beat Preston North End for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
