After West Ham United and Leeds United’s first teams faced one another in the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon, it is now the turn of Mark Jackson’s Under-23s to face the Hammers.
The Premier League 2 encounter gets underway on Monday evening (7pm) and will be the second of three matches in a week against one another for the two sides, with the first team set to return to East London on Sunday in the Premier League to complete the meetings.
The match will be a tough test for Jackson’s side with West Ham sitting at the top of the Premier League 2 Division One table, after 10 wins from 14 matches. On home turf, the Hammers have won eight out of eight, scoring 23 times and conceding just three.
On the road, the Whites have the fourth best away record in the league following three wins from seven matches, scoring 16 goals during those games. Leeds will be hoping to bring some of the goals to the Rush Green Stadium on Monday evening.
When the two teams met back in September at Thorp Arch, a hard-fought and entertaining 2-2 draw was played out. Max Dean and Sam Greenwood got the goals for Leeds that day, whilst Harrison Ashby and Jamal Baptiste netted for the Hammers.
Jackson’s side have been on a tough run in the league of late and the Under-23s head coach has called for his side to show a winning mentality as they aim to finish the season strongly, and move back up the league standings.
Three points would be important at either end of the table, for both teams. Leeds could move up three places and go above Leicester, whilst West Ham will be aiming to extend their lead at the top over nearest challengers, Manchester City.
The regular dangers to watch out for in attack on either side are Armstrong Okoflex for the Hammers, who leads the goalscoring charts with 11. Joe Gelhardt - who is currently injured - and Sam Greenwood - who played for the first team in the FA Cup on Sunday - remain level on seven each for Leeds.
Tonight’s match is behind closed doors, meaning fans are not able to attend the game. Supporters are able to watch the match live through LUTV or follow online coverage right here on leedsunited.com
Who is in charge of each side?
West Ham: Mark Robson
Leeds: Mark Jackson
League position:
West Ham: 1st
Leeds: 13th
Top scorer (all competitions):
West Ham: Armstrong Okoflex (11)
Leeds: Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood (7)
How to watch online:
Kick-off is at 19:00 and will be streamed on LUTV. There will also be live updates right here on our blog, throughout.
Ticket information:
Behind-closed-doors.