Leeds United vs Newcastle United
Elland Road has not been home sweet home thus far for Leeds United upon their return to the Premier League. The Whites have gone winless in their last five matches on home soil and currently find themselves down in 14th in the table.
Leeds will finally look to end their woeful winless run at home when they host Newcastle United in midweek.
But while the Premier League 2020 betting odds fancy their chances of getting that much-needed home win, they should not underestimate the Magpies, who are flying high after back-to-back wins and will not make things easy for the home side.
Talking Points
Leeds’ home struggles continue
It has been a rough last month for Leeds. After a bright start to the season, Marcelo Bielsa’s men have now won just one of their last six matches – that one coming away at Everton – with four losses.
They failed to win all three of their home matches during that time as they lost heavily to Leicester, drew with a 10-man Arsenal, and lost 2-1 despite taking an early lead over West Ham on Friday night.
Those results have seen Leeds’ poor record at Elland Road this season drop to just one win, two draws, and three defeats in six.
Despite attempting the second-most shots in the league, Leeds have still found goals hard to come by. They have scored just five goals during their current six-game slump and have failed to score more than one goal since their 0-3 away win over Aston Villa at the end of October.
Striker Patrick Bamford has been in fine form with eight goals already this season, but they haven’t been able to find goals from anywhere else. Mateusz Klich is the second-leading scorer with three goals, and two have come from the penalty spot.
Still, Leeds should enjoy the lion’s share of possession at home against Newcastle, who will be all too content to sit back and defend deep. It will be up to Leeds to convert those chances, and at the same time prevent the Magpies from hitting them on the counter.
Leeds have struggled at the back all season and have already let in 22 goals (tied for second-most in the league). With Robin Koch and Diego Llorente still out injured, Luke Ayling will likely continue to deputise in the centre of Leeds’ defence alongside captain Liam Cooper.
Newcastle’s plan keeps producing good results
Newcastle United may not play the most attractive football, but Steve Bruce’s side somehow continues to pull off positive Premier League 2020 results.
The Magpies currently find themselves in 12th place with 17 points, tied with the likes of Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers. They’ve won back-to-back matches for the first time this season after beating Crystal Palace 2-0 away and West Brom 2-1 at home.
Miguel Almiron gave the Magpies a great start against the Baggies as he scored within the first few seconds, and Dwight Gayle came up with a late winner in his first appearance of the season.
There’s hardly any mystery to how Newcastle will play. They will try to stay rigid at the back, especially away from home. That’s why there have only been 10 total goals (6 for, 4 against) in their five away matches thus far this season.
They will then hope to catch their opponent out with the odd goal near the end of the match. Of the 14 goals Newcastle have scored this season, half of them have come in the last 10 minutes or later.
Striker Callum Wilson has scored three of those late goals and has seven goals overall in what has been a strong debut season at Newcastle. Wilson will look to work his late magic once more against a Leeds defence that has looked vulnerable for the entire season.
History
This will be Leeds and Newcastle’s first meeting against one another since 2017, which came in the Championship. They drew 1-1 in St. James’ Park, with Newcastle winning the reverse fixture at Elland Road 2-0.
Newcastle are unbeaten in their last five visits to Elland Road dating back to their days in the Premier League. The two clubs last met in the English top-flight in 2004, with Newcastle again coming out 1-0 winners.
Betting Tip
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Leeds United vs Newcastle United | Under 2.50 Goals @ 2.06 |
| December 17, 02:00 (GMT+8) |
SBOTOP odds have Leeds priced as significant 1.79 favourites to get that much-awaited home win. Meanwhile, Newcastle are at 4.50 to pick up all three points and 3.45 to get at least one in a draw.
But let’s turn our attention to the under of 2.50 goals, which is a good value bet at 2.06. Based on how they’ve played away from home this season, Newcastle will almost surely set up to try and frustrate Leeds.
And with Leeds’ struggles scoring goals at the moment, there’s a decent chance Newcastle’s strategy will pay off. So look for this match to be a low-scoring affair with at most two goals.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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