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Sean Dyche will know the size of Forest’s task at Elland Road tonight. As a Brian Clough disciple – we’ve all heard his impression – he may well have extra motivation against the club the Forest and Derby legend despised and then managed briefly, and disastrously.
On the current Leeds iteration and tonight’s mission, Dyche said: “It’s another important game. It’s tough going up there, I have been many times, they have steadied the ship because early season there was a lot of noise about the manager [Farke] and ‘Can they or can’t they?’, but they have steadied it down with a lot of good performances.”
A couple of pre-match reads for you with another big Premier League weekend almost upon us.
Here’s what Farke said on the survival equation for his team now:
We need one point average [from 38 games] to stay in this league, so we need 12 points to have this average. This means three wins and three draws, whatever – six positive results from the last 14 games. The last 12 games we’ve played, we had 10 positive results. I would back my players to get six positive results. I want all 14 to be positive, but I’m confident we are capable to win enough to stay in this league.
Both teams have some serious speed on the bench. Daniel James is a welcome returnee for Leeds having been out for a good while with a hamstring injury. Joël Piroe and Wilfried Gnonto also have pace to burn and could give the hosts that extra bit of thrust late in the game. The absence of loan signing Facundo Buonanotte is… a bit strange.
Forest have Dan Ndoye and Omari Hutchinson to introduce onto the wings at some stage, as well as the powerful striker Taiwo Awoniyi who scored on his last outing off the bench at Brentford.
That’s a lot of defenders Leeds have picked tonight. Ampadu is very much a deep-lying midfielder, so it’s six defensive players on the teamsheet from Daniel Farke, with either Gabriel Gudmundsson or James Justin slotting into a back three and the other one joining Jayden Bogle as a wing-back.
No Netz in the Forest starting lineup, as 19-year-old centre-back Zach Abbott gets a first Premier League start instead. He’s made a handful of appearances in the Europa League this season. There were some claims that Callum Hudson-Odoi would be out for this one with a shoulder injury, but he’s been passed fit to start. Ortega makes his debut in goal.
Team news
Leeds: Darlow; Justin, Rodon, Strujik; Bogle, Gruev, Ampadu, Aaronson, Gudmundsson; Okafor, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Perri, James, Longstaff, Piroe, Nmecha, Bijol, Tanaka, Bornauw, Gnonto.
Nottingham Forest: Ortega; Aina, Milenkovic, Abbott, Morato; Sangaré, Anderson, Gibbs-White; Hudson-Odoi, I.Jesus, Domínguez.
Subs: Gunn, Awoniyi, Ndoye, Lucca, Hutchinson, Yates, Cunha, McAtee, Netz.
Preamble
Leeds United and Nottingham Forest may balk at the suggestion that this is an earlyish relegation six-pointer – both may feel they are clear enough of danger as it stands – but the prospect of heading into the weekend nine points clear of the drop zone, with the pressure firmly on West Ham, is surely enticing. (The Hammers play 19th-placed Burnley tomorrow). These two are currently locked on 26 points after 24 games, with Leeds sitting above Forest only on goals scored. And given Daniel Farke’s side have shown a real taste for these Friday night fixtures at home and the fact Forest have gone unbeaten in the league for a whole month, there really ought to be little separating the sides. Competitive should be the word.
Forest could field their two key January signings – Stefan Ortega is likely to start in goal and Luca Netz looks a like-for-like replacement for the suspended Neco Williams at left-back. Leeds will be without the injured Anton Stach, though it remains to be seen whether Farke will prefer a back three, or go to 4-3-3 (or something similar) tonight. That 4-0 home shellacking by Arsenal last week will still be stinging for a few Leeds fans.
It all gets under way at 8pm GMT, with the official team news to follow very shortly. Strap yourself in for a tussle between two of English football’s heavyweights under the Elland Road lights.
