Friday evening at 19:45, Leeds United receives Middlesbrough’s visit to the 6th round of the English second league. Leeds comes after a failure in the League Cup with Preston (0-2), while Middlesbrough has earned a skilled job. But Marcelo Bielsa rested his parts because he has a much more important stake in the championship: promotion from the Premier League!
Without Cooper and Dallas, Leeds is slightly upset by the advantage of his own field, but Bielsa’s team showed defensive weaknesses that Tony Pulis’s offensive triad can take advantage of. Middlesbrough is a mature team who made the necessary transfers in the summer, and the white-red quality will come out. Leeds showed he has problems when he meets caliber opponents.
Middlesbrough, without winning “Elland Road” for 6 years.
There are no batch problems at Middlesbrough, which is second in the Championship, with a 4-1 and 9-2 goals. The Riverside band’s defense game impresses and it’s no surprise that Tony Pulis leads the best defensive championship. Leeds is the leader, with the same balance, but has a 14-4 goal on the background of a more accessible program. Very few fine details will make a difference in this game, in which both want to avoid failure.
Middlesbrough has six consecutive “Elland Road” victories without winning: 1-2, 1-2, 0-1, 0-0, and 1-2 with the shadow of the Nordic. But the last straight game, disputed in March 2018, was clearly won by white-red, 3-0 on home ground. Leeds won 3-0 last in Norwich, while Middlesbrough defeated the WBA with an empty goal of Ayala overtime. Although Leeds prefers a faster pace and dominates opponents as a rule, Middlesbrough will know how to delay the game and absorb the pressure exerted by the favorites.
We are on a tight match where the draw is a probable result. Both would finally end up with the draw, given that it is a promotion derby, and if the score will be balanced towards the end of the match then the two managers will call a cautious tactic to protect the point.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1.74
