please log in to view this image Leeds Utd V Southampton Tuesday 23rd February 2021@18:00 | Elland Road After suffering back to back defeats at the hands of Arsenal and Wolves, Leeds will be hoping to get back to winning ways at the expense of a Southampton side in free fall. Before their 1-1 draw against Chelsea at St Mary's, the Saints have lost six games in a row including a 9-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester Utd. Leeds currently lie in 12th place on 32 points, one place and two points above their South Coast opponents. Leeds Manager Marcelo Bielsa has some big decisions to make. With Kalvin Phillips probably still sidelined, will the gaffer keep faith with Mateusz Klich at defensive midfield? Jamie Shackleton and Tyler Roberts both failed to impress during their Wolves outing; will they keep their places, or be replaced? Record signing Rodrigo returned to training last Monday, but was not fit to participate on Friday night. Surely he will play some part on Tuesday? Bielsa gave this update regarding Phillips and Rodrigo prior to the Wolves game:- "I could not give you a certain, answer" he said when asked when Phillips and Rodrigo would be back. "If I tell you that no they won’t play, one of them could perhaps make it for one of those games. And if I tell you yes, they will return, I can’t tell you this with certainty. Sometimes a response that seems like it's a formality is the only way I can answer because it’s actually subject to how they evolve." Diego Llorente was fit enough to take the bench against Wolves, he may play some part against Southampton. Robin Koch is currently being assessed on a 'week-to-week' basis, but is not expected to play any part in proceedings for another month. Berardi is earmarked to start for the U23's against Crystal Palace on March 1st.
It's a game we should be winning. Southampton have been poor for a couple of months. We need to get back to converting chances in to goals.
Least they sneaked a point against Chelsea, 7 league defeats in a row and you just know they'd end the sequence against us!
Bielsa hopefully will drum it into the lads, to be very wary indeed of giving free kicks away (especially needless ones) from anything up to 25 yards, as in my opinion southampton have one of the best free kick takers in the premier league in Ward Prowse.
I feel a bit nervous about this one, as others have said we don’t want to get drawn into those squabbling at the relegation end of the table
I agree. A few weeks ago a few on here were saying we are safe. But we've now lost 3 in our last 4 and you've seen how easy it is to lose a game that we should have at least got a point. This is another game that could go either way. So IMO we aren't safe yet.
There was also that fullback, that was shocking for us (yes I know that doesn't narrow it down much) that went on to play for Blackpool in the Premier League. We signed him from Southampton. Can't remember his name, but am sure he had red hair
If you read match reports and follow stats, it’s clear that Brighton especially and Fulham to a lesser degree have been better than their results show all season. Fulham are in a run of very ‘winnable’ games so it’s not a surprise they’re closed the gap. Someone at the bottom always goes on a run, and someone mid table always gets sucked in. We don’t want to be that team... and on paper have a couple of winnable games coming up before a trickier run, we’d all sleep easier with 6 points by the end of the weekend before the shammers and Chelsea and what might then be a 6 pointer at Fulham. problem with the Prem is winnable doesn’t mean you’ll win. We seem to win a couple lose a couple.. which has us looking down the table then looking up... so could do with a couple of wins to banish any lingering fears of the drop and enjoy the run in!