please log in to view this image Portsmouth v Leeds United Sunday 9th March@12:00 | Fratton Park Leeds United face a testing away fixture this weekend as they journey south to Fratton Park for a Championship clash against Portsmouth. The midday kick-off on Saturday has drawn the ire of the Leeds faithful, with many facing an arduous overnight trek to support the Whites in what is shaping up to be a crucial encounter. Daniel Farke’s side are desperate to reignite their winning momentum after stumbling to a draw against West Brom last time out. While a point at Elland Road wasn’t a disaster, the chasing pack of Sheffield United and Burnley have closed the gap. With a significant 33 points still up for grabs, Leeds know they must return to winning ways to solidify their promotion ambitions. However, Portsmouth, despite their 17th place league position, will be no pushovers, particularly on their own patch. John Mousinho’s men boast an impressive home record of late. Over the last ten Championship home games, Pompey have accrued the second-highest points tally – a remarkable 23 – bettered only by Leeds United themselves. During this period, they’ve secured seven victories in front of their own fans and conceded a mere five goals, making Fratton Park a fortress of sorts. This formidable home form has been pivotal in pulling Portsmouth away from the dreaded relegation zone. They now sit comfortably eight points clear of the bottom three, increasingly confident of Championship football again next season. Their recent surge did, however, suffer a setback with a surprise defeat against bottom-of-the-league Luton Town in their last outing. The question is, how will Portsmouth react to this unexpected loss when faced with the league leaders? Adding to the intrigue is the injury situation for both sides. Farke will be without key defensive figures Max Wober and Ethan Ampadu, both nursing knee injuries. Patrick Bamford’s thigh issue continues to sideline him, while Mateo Joseph is doubtful after turning his ankle against West Brom. Youngster Harry Gray is in a race against time to complete his homework commitments but could potentially travel with the squad. Portsmouth have injury concerns of their own which could severely hamper their chances of maintaining their strong recent form. Mousinho could be without a staggering seven first-team players for this weekend’s clash. Their extensive injury list potentially includes Callum Lang, Conor Shaughnessy, Ibane Bowat, Jacob Farrell, Jordan Williams, Robert Atkinson, and Paddy Lane.
Ell The 7th March is tomorrow (ie Friday). Not only that, but we don't play Portsmouth on Saturday, the game is on sunday
Have been more worried about the next three games in 6 days than I was the games vs Sunderland and Sheff Utd. A season defining 6 days starting on Sunday dinner time.
Good evening all. I hate this kickoff time. It’s nearly always a poor quality game (premier league or championship), probably because it’s not a proper time to play a match, Sky/TNT need to scrap it. Also saw on Twitter that we have only won two of our last twelve matches when playing the early game. I’m sure Aski can verify this.
Why bother mentioning Wober and Bamford. They don’t play for Leeds and if by some miracle were available they’d only weaken the team anyway #wasteofwages
That's correct, but does it mean anything ? Our last 4 games that have been early kick offs in the league , we have won 2 and drawn 2, scoring 6 goals and conceding 2 Does that mean that we are improving Since our return to the championship, we have played 20 games that have kicked off at 12:30pm. We have won 9 of those, drawn 6 and lost 5. Last season we played a total of 12 league games that kicked off at 12:30pm. We won 7, drew 1 and lost 4. This season we have played a total of 8 games that kicked off at 12:30pm kick offs. We have won 2 of those, drawn 5 and lost 1. Edited as LoL stated that the data he referred to related to only games that kicked off at 12:30pm, thus the Blackburn game this season that kicked off at 1:30pm has been removed from the above figures
To clarify, the figures of 2 in 12 specifically stated that was in games that kicked off before 1.30pm. Don’t know if that alters any of your statistics above
It does, it actually improves it, because the Blackburn game we lost this season kicked off at 13;30 , which would mean that we have actually won 3, drawn 6 and lost 3 from the last 12 league games that have kicked off at 12:30pm. I do agree with you, that early kick off times do not suit us when it comes to getting results. I just didn't understand why whoever provided the data you quoted from, didn't either just stick to this seasons results, or provide the whole of last seasons results as well, other than of course saying we have only won 2 out of 8 or 9 out of 20 doesn't sound as bad as 2 out of 12 (even though it should be 3 out of 12 of course) Last season we scored more goals and conceded more goals on average in our early kick off games, although we struggled to score goals in our evening games. This season, we have struggled to score goals in our early kick off games, defensively we have been the same as afternoon games, whilst evening games we give away the least number of goals. Overall with last season and this season combined, we win approx 45% of our early kick off games, which is 20% below what we win in afternoon kick offs, with us having 10% more draws and defeats due to early kick off games. On average we score slightly more games in early kick offs, than we do with evening kick offs.
this will be a walk in the park won't have to take the carpet slippers off, unless everyone switches off
Eire I’ve just noticed Burnley play again before we play Millwall so we could be third on Tuesday night. Is that better?
I'm the same, said we need to be top after West Brom game but the next 2 aways are very tricky, had a bad feeling about Portsmouth for a while now and WPR always seem to do us down there, if we're still top after those games, it will all be looking rosy. 21st April will be a massive day, Stoke at home Burnley v Blunts.
