Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United side are back on the road this weekend, travelling to Crystal Palace.
Under the guidance of former England manager Roy Hodgson, Palace have become an established Premier League side over recent years.
The Eagles were promoted from the Sky Bet Championship in 2012/13 via the Play-Off final, with veteran Kevin Phillips scoring the winner against Watford.
The Whites haven’t faced Saturday’s opponents since that season, where a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park followed a 2-1 victory at Elland Road for Neil Warnock’s Leeds side, courtesy of goals from Luciano Becchio and Paul Green.
Now in their eighth consecutive season in the top-flight, Palace’s highest finish was in 2014/15 where Alan Pardew guided them to 10th. Last season, the club finished in 14th place, winning 11, drawing 10 and losing 17 of their 38 fixtures.
Both teams come into Saturday’s match off the back of a defeat, so will be wanting to bounce back immediately. Leeds lost 1-4 at home to Leicester City, whereas Palace lost 2-0 away at Wolves.
Saturday’s hosts have won once (1-0 vs Southampton), drawn once (1-1 vs Brighton) and lost once (1-2 vs Everton) in their three Premier League home fixtures so far. Leeds have won twice (0-1 vs Sheffield United, 0-3 vs Aston Villa) and lost once (4-3 vs Liverpool) in their opening three away matches.
Manager/head coach
Crystal Palace: Roy Hodgson
Leeds United: Marcelo Bielsa
League position
Crystal Palace: 13th
Leeds United: 12th
Premier League form
Crystal Palace: LLDWL
Leeds United: WDLWL
Premier League top scorer
Crystal Palace: Wilfried Zaha (5)
Leeds United: Patrick Bamford (6)
Head to head
Crystal Palace: 17
Draws: 16
Leeds United: 29
Last time at Selhurst Park
9th March, 2013
Sky Bet Championship
Crystal Palace 2 (Murray 27’, 84’)
Leeds United 2 (Morison, 56’, 69’)
Team news
Rodrigo, Diego Llorente and Kalvin Phillips will all be missing for the trip to Palace, Marcelo Bielsa has confirmed. Raphinha will be a late call from the Whites head coach, with the rest of the squad fit and ready for selection.
Palace captain Luka Milivojevic is suspended after being sent off late on in their last match against Wolves, whilst Wayne Hennesey, Connor Wickham and Joel Ward are injured. Tyrick Mitchell could return.
Officials
Referee - Chris Kavanagh
Assistant Referee 1 - Dan Cook
Assistant Referee 2 - Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth Official - David Coote
Video Assistant Referee - Mike Dean
The key battle
Wilfried Zaha vs Luke Ayling
Zaha has been Palace’s main threat for a number of years, in two separate spells at Selhurst Park. The forward can either operate on the wing or as a striker and is often at the forefront of the minds of opposition defences. Currently on five goals already this season - three of which won the game for his side - the 27-year-old will be a main danger to the Leeds United backline on Saturday.
This is where the battle commences. Luke Ayling will be the man tasked with stopping Zaha as he tends to operate down the left-wing, therefore coming up against Ayling’s right-hand-side of defence. The 29-year-old has been part of a defence that has kept two clean sheets in three games on their travels so far this season (Sheffield United & Aston Villa), so will be looking to add to that tally.
Latest odds
Crystal Palace: 19/10
Draw: 23/10
Leeds United: 7/5
