Tuesday 29th December 18:00| The Hawthorns


Leeds will be hoping they can build on their victory over Burnley on Sunday, as the Whites travel down to the Midlands to play West Brom Tuesday teatime live on Amazon Prime Video. Leeds will be without central defender Diego Llorente. The 27 year old aggravated his leg injury a day after returning to Leeds first team training. Being that Bielsa is not fond of shuffling the pack, we suspect the Argentine will select the same team that edged past Burnley. This will mean playing Ayling and Struijk playing in central defence, but with West Brom playing just one up front it could mean Kalvin Phillips steps back into the Defensive Midfield role.

West Brom will be full of confidence having held the mighty Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Sunday evening. This is another test for the Baggies defence, because you just know that Leeds will come at them in waves. Unfortunately for the Baggies, they have only won once this season, lying in 19th place (out of 20) with just eight points. Leeds rose to 12th place after their victory over the Clarets, with 20 points. Both Leeds and West Brom share an unwanted statistic. Both teams have conceded 30 goals, more than any other team in the top flight. Injured Baggies trio Hal Robson-Kanu, Kyle Bartley and Conor Townsend all look set to miss out.

The two sides have faced each other in the Championship in the last two seasons. West Brom 4-1 victors at The Hawthorns in November 2018 with Leeds reclaiming brgging rights with a 4-0 victory in the return fixture at Elland Road. Last season again saw Leeds the victors at Elland Road with a 1-0 victory whilst in the Midlands the teams played out a 1-1 draw back in January. In add odd piece of symmetry Leeds' first and last games of 2020 will have been against West Brom.




West Brom are without a win in their last five league matches, drawing two and losing three. They have conceded eight goals in their past two Premier League home games. The Baggies have had just six shots in their two league fixtures under Sam Allardyce; whilst Leeds have had 28 shots in the same period. Allardyce has won just one of his four home games against Leeds in all competitions, drawing one and losing two.

Leeds have won two of their last three league matches. They have scored eight goals in those three fixtures, as many as their previous seven top-flight matches. Their last five Premier League games have featured 23 goals in total. Leeds have had six shots or more in all but one of their 116 games in all competitions under Marcelo Bielsa. Patrick Bamford has scored 10 goals in 15 Premier League games for the Whites this season - the most by a player from a newly-promoted club since Kevin Phillips's 13 for Sunderland in 1999-2000.


Leeds Starting XI
Meslier, Dallas, Ayling, Struijk, Alioski, Phillips, Raphinha, Rodrigo, Klich, Harrison, Bamford

Subs: Casilla, Jenkins, Casey, Davis, Shackleton, Costa, Roberts, Hernandez, Poveda