The 2020/21 English Premier League season continues this weekend and we have a meeting between two newly promoted teams. Leeds United take on Fulham at Elland Road with both teams hoping to get off the mark with a win this season.
The hosts come into the match having started their Premier League campaign with a tough away fixture at defending champions Liverpool. Leeds United fell behind on three occasions but each time they managed to score an equalising goal and it appeared so they were going to take a point from the match. However, a clumsy challenge in the penalty area gifted Liverpool the points in the 88th minute.
Leeds United will be pleased with the way they performed going forward but there will be question marks about their defending.
In the championship last season, Leeds United went on a run of 8 games undefeated at home to finish the season. Not only did they score plenty of goals but they were strong in defence, keeping 7 clean sheets across the 8 matches.
Leeds United proved in the match at Liverpool they have what it takes to score goals in the Premier League. Now they will want to show they can defend by keeping a clean sheet in this game.
Fulham make the trip north having suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat at home against Arsenal in their opening game of the Premier League season. It took only 8 minutes for Arsenal to make the breakthrough and it was always going to be difficult for Fulham to get back into the match. So it proved and Arsenal went on to score two goals early in the second half without reply.
Fulham looked short in both defence and attack, creating very little in the way of goal scoring opportunities. Fulham managed to hit the target only twice during the 90 minutes and must work the goalkeeper more if they are to take something from this game.
Going back to the last time Fulham played in the Premier League which was 2018/19, trends show they have lost 8 of their last 9 away matches in the competition plus have failed to score a goal in each of their last 3 away Premier League games.
Looking ahead to the team news and Leeds United will be without the injured Adam Forshaw while Liam Cooper is a doubt. Expect Marcelo Bielsa to name the same starting XI from the match at Liverpool, injuries permitting.
Fulham are hoping central midfielder Jean Michael Seri will be available despite suffering from overload. Scott Parker is sure to start with Aleksandar Mitrovic up-front having been on the bench against Arsenal.
Despite both clubs being promoted last season, Leeds United are the clear favourites to win this match. Their performance last weekend showed what they are capable of in the Premier League and Leeds United could win this game by scoring at least 2 goals.