Leeds United vs Crystal Palace

Leeds United and Crystal Palace are set to trade tackles in a bottom-half Premier League encounter at Elland Road.

Following an utterly impressive 2020/21 Premier League campaign, Leeds have crumbled this season, picking up a mere two victories from their opening 13 league matches (D6, L5). An underwhelming start to the season sees the ‘Whites’ enter this round only three points clear of the drop zone, though they take on a Palace side they’ve defeated in their last five league H2Hs at home in a row. Moreover, since securing top-flight promotion last season, Marcelo Bielsa’s men have racked up five triumphs in their six midweek Premier League fixtures. Despite Bielsa’s well-documented attacking football philosophy, Leeds have averaged a measly 1.0 goals per home Premier L00 Comments in moderationeague game this season, netting under 1.5 goals in their last five on the trot. Topically, they belong to a small group of four teams yet to score over 2.5 goals per match this Premier League season.

On the other hand, a 2-1 home defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend knocked Crystal Palace down from a seven-match unbeaten Premier League streak (W2, D5). Away from home, the ‘Eagles’ have conceded 2+ goals in all but one of their six Premier League outings this term, with a 2-0 win over reigning champions Manchester City the solitary exception to this run. That said, Patrick Vieira’s men have gone unbeaten in their last three Premier League travels (W1, D2) since a 3-0 loss at Liverpool in mid-September, bagging over 1.5 goals on each occasion. The last time they scored 2+ goals in four top-flight away fixtures on the bounce was in January 2019. Palace’s attacking set-up usually sparks into life beyond half-time, with 14 (73.68%) of their 19 Premier League goals scored this term arriving in the second half of play.