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The teams are out at Elland Road! Leeds in their Revie-Real-influened white, Leicester wearing first-choice royal blue. The ear-piercing piccolo of Marching On Together fills the air. A heady mix of anticipation and trepidation is palpable. Football is fun! We’ll be off in a minute.
Pre-match postbag o’anxiety. “Should I be rooting for a draw?” wonders Brad Wilson. “My best mate is a Leeds supporter. I’d prefer both Everton and Leeds stay up, but if my beloved Toffees have to go down I hope Leeds stays up for my friend. If it’s between Leeds and Everton, well, my friend, sorry.”
Sadly for Brad, his fellow Evertonian Matt Burtz has no answers. “I watch this one with great interest. Obviously the easiest thing for Everton to do is win some games, but let’s not go crazy here, so I sit here wondering what the best outcome is. I think it’s a draw in that it would mean that Everton could pass both of them by beating Newcastle on Thursday (please don’t laugh), but a Leeds win would set up a monumental six-pointer at the King Power on Monday. And I suppose a Leicester win keeps Leeds within striking distance. It’s all quite stressful and I don’t like it one bit.”
There’s nearly a stunning start for Fulham at Villa Park. Pereira meets a right-wing cross with a bicycle kick that nearly flies into the top-right corner of Martinez’s net. That wasn’t far away at all; had it gone in, it would have been clocked at 18 seconds.
Javi Gracia speaks to BT. “I expect the best of all of them … we know how important this game is … it is massive … we need the points … we have not had much time to prepare this game … it’s been more about mentally preparing, not too much on the pitch … the last three games were hard to accept … we did it well before … we have had good results and good performances before and today we expect the same … we need energy … I always expect the best of my rivals, they are a very good team with very good players but we try to focus on ourselves.”
GOAL! Wolves 1-0 Crystal Palace (Andersen og 3). A super-fast start for Wolves at Molineux. Silva nearly slots into the bottom right on the turn, only for Johnstone to save. But from the resulting corner, swung in by Neves, Andersen, rushing back towards his own goal, knees powerfully off the underside of the bar and in!
Dean Smith talks to BT Sport. “It’s a huge night for both clubs … both are in a position we don’t want to be in … we had a good result at the weekend … it means nothing if we don’t put in a performance and put in a result tonight as well.”
Leeds make four changes to the side that started the 2-1 defeat at Fulham on Saturday. Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling, Luis Sinisterra and Junior Firpo replace Brenden Aaronson, Crysencio Summerville and Rasmus Kristensen, who drop to the bench, and Max Wober, who is out injured.
Leicester make two changes to their starting XI after the 2-1 win over Wolves last weekend. James Maddison and Harvey Barnes return from illness and injury respectively, so Patson Daka and Jamie Vardy drop to the bench.
The teams
Leeds United: Meslier, Ayling, Firpo, Cooper, Koch, Roca, McKennie, Harrison, Sinisterra, Rodrigo, Bamford.
Subs: Robles, Struijk, Kristensen, Forshaw, Greenwood, Aaronson, Summerville, Gnonto, Gerorgino.
Leicester City: Iversen, Castagne, Soyuncu, Faes, Kristiansen, Soumare, Tielemans, Maddison, Tete, Barnes, Iheanacho.
Subs: Ward, Souttar, Amartey, Mendy, Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall, Praet, Daka, Vardy.
Referee: Paul Tierney (Lancashire).
The team news is in for the two other Premier League games being played tonight. Villa welcome back Emi Martinez, briefly waylaid against Brentford with a tummy bug, while Dan James returns for Fulham. Meanwhile at Molineux, Mario Lemina passes a fitness test on his hamstring, while Crystal Palace captain Luka Milivojevic returns to the starting line-up.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Moreno, Mings, Konsa, Young, Luiz, McGinn, Dendoncker, Ramsey, Buendia, Watkins.
Subs: Olsen, Sinisalo, Carlos, Chambers, Digne, Duran, Revan, O’Reilly, Traore.
Fulham: Leno, Robinson, Ream, Adarbioyo, Tete, Palhinha, Reed, Willian, Pereira, Wilson, James.
Subs: Rodak, Duffy, Soares, De Cordova-Reid, Cairney, Solomon, Lukic, Diop, Vinicius.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Bueno, Nunes, Neves, Lemina, Hwang, Cunha, Costa.
Subs: Bentley, Collins, Neto, Podence, Sarabia, Toti, Moutinho, Gomes, Traore.
Crystal Palace: Johnstone, Richards, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell, Milivojevic, Lokonga, Hughes, Olise, Eze, Ayew.
Subs: Guaita, Ward, Tomkins, Mateta, Schlupp, McArthur, Edouard, Doucoure, Riedewald.
Preamble
There’s no point yammering on. This sets everything up just perfectly …
The big relegation clash at Elland Road kicks off at 8pm GMT. We’ll also be keeping tabs on the latest scores in the other two Premier League matches tonight, one of which kind of has a vague relegation theme to it, the other not at all. Wolverhampton Wanderers v Crystal Palace kicks off at 7.30pm, Aston Villa v Fulham at 7.45pm. A triple-header for your pleasure is on. It’s on!
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