Premier League: Leeds Planning to Halt Their Arid Streak Against Villa

Leeds United vs Aston Villa

Leeds are set to resume their 2022-23 Premier League campaign as they’ll get to host Aston Villa at Elland Road on Sunday night.

It seemed like an eternity for Jesse Marsch’s men as they haven’t played since the beginning of September because their fixtures against Nottingham Forest and Manchester United were postponed following the Queen’s passing.

They’re currently at 11^th place with eight points. But since they have a game in hand, they can get back into the top half of the table should they beat their visitors.

Aston Villa, meanwhile, are at 15^th with seven points and they’ll need a positive result on the road but Steven Gerrard’s work will be cut out for him.

Now that the Whites are back in action, continue to read on below for our SBOTOP preview of this game.

Talking Points

Lengthy break might have helped Leeds

The Whites will have welcomed the time off since they had a growing list of injury woes, namely Junior Firpo, Adam Forshaw, Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling, Rasmus Kristensen, and Rodrigo Moreno.

All of them were rested and were present in the training sessions lately with only Stuart Dallas as the long-term absentee due to his injured knee.

The return of Rodrigo Moreno in particular should help the Whites immensely especially since they were on a poor run of Premier League 2022 results prior to the hiatus.

Since their shocking 3-0 rout over Chelsea and 3-1 win against Barnsley in the second round of the Carabao Cup, Leeds lost twice to Brighton and Brentford via a 6-2 aggregate tally, while they were held to a 1-1 draw by Everton.

Rodrigo Moreno has been the man of the hour for the Whites with four goals and one assist, and he’ll be tasked to lead the line once more. Luis Sinisterra has also settled in nicely at Elland Road with three goals in his debut campaign.

Patrick Bamford has a chance to open his scoring account for 2022-23 this Sunday. Whether he’ll start or not, the 29-year-old striker is likely to play heavy minutes by Jesse Marsch nonetheless.

Villa are severely undermanned

Aston Villa are undefeated in their last two, but if they lose to Leeds on Sunday, they’re back to square one.

However, it’s not all the manager’s fault as Steven Gerrard has been dealt with a bad hand lately because of injuries to their key players.

As far as this match is concerned, the Villans’ defence is compromised because they will continue to miss the likes of Boubacar Kamara, Lucas Digne, Matty Cash, and Diego Carlos.

Kamara – who was one of Villa’s prized acquisitions this summer – is out indefinitely due to a torn ligament on his knee, while Carlos ruptured his Achilles early in the season and Cash and Digne are both dealing with hamstring knocks.

They do have some capable scorers who can do damage at the other side of the pitch, but they can’t afford to have an off-night. Danny Ings, Leon Bailey, and Douglas Luiz all have two goals apiece.

History

Aston Villa have gotten the better of Leeds in their Premier League head-to-heads. In their last 10 league meetings, they’ve won four times and drawn five while losing only once. The only loss that they had was a 3-1 result back in the final matchday of the 2002-03 season.

The Villans have also won their last two road games against the Whites, which is as many as they had in their previous 17 visits at Elland Road (D9, L6). They’ve yet to win three straight at the said venue.

Should the Whites win on Sunday, they’ll be unbeaten at Elland Road in their first four league home games in a campaign for the first time in 20 years. They last did it in 2001-02 (8 games: W4, D4) and 1992-93 (also 8 games: W5, D3). Right now they’ve won twice and won once.

Betting Tip

The Premier League 2022 odds are favouring Leeds to win. The Whites are priced at 2.40, while Aston Villa are installed at 2.84 and chances for a draw are at 3.35 in the 1X2 market.

With both sides needing a victory, expect this one to be a tight affair. However, we’re leaning towards giving the hosts the edge since they’ve been undefeated at home so far this season.

Just like in their previous encounter, we don’t expect much goals from this fixture, so Under 2.50 @ 1.79 is an alternative bet to think about.

 

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