Manchester United travel to face Leeds United at Elland Road in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon. Ralf Rangnick’s side returned to winning ways in a 2-0 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion on Tuesday evening at Old Trafford.
Leeds are not in great form with three defeats, one draw and two wins in their last six matches and at the time of writing, sit in 15th place in the Premier League table just five points above the relegation zone. United sit in fourth place a point ahead of West Ham United with a game in hand.
United will need to find a way to overcome the poor performances and results. Whilst it was a victory over Brighton, it was less than convincing with Brighton playing well against United and them only able to score after 51 minutes and not really able to take advantage over a ten-man team.
This match will need to show more from United. This fixture was a 0-0 draw last season and United should really have the firepower to take advantage of this Leeds side who are not really achieving much this season. Come on United!
Manchester United:
De Gea;
Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw;
Fernandes, McTominay, Pogba;
Lingard, Ronaldo, Sancho
Substitutes:
Henderson; Varane, Dalot, Telles; Mata, Fred, Matic; Rashford, Elanga
Leeds United:
Meslier;
Ayling, Llorente, Struik, Dallas;
Forshaw, Koch;
James, Klich, Harrison;
Rodrigo
Substitutes:
Klaesson; Firpo, Cresswell; Bate, Shackleton, Kenneh; Raphina, Roberts, Gelhardt
United and Leeds have met 27 times in the history of the Premier League. United have won 15 times, drawing eight with Leeds winning four times. United have scored 46 goals, winning one penalty and scoring it. Leeds have scored 20 goals, winning no penalties.
United have kept 14 clean sheets in this fixture with Leeds keeping six. The disciplinary history is problematic with United players shown 36 yellow cards and no red cards and Leeds players being shown 52 yellow cards and two red cards.
Freddie Goodwin, Joe Jordan, Johnny Giles, Gordon McQueen, Brian Greenhoff, Gordon Strachan, Arthur Graham, Denis Irwin, Eric Cantona, Lee Sharpe, Rio Ferdinand, Danny Pugh, Alan Smith, Liam Miller, Scott Wootton, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Daniel James played for United and Leeds.
Eric Cantona and Rio Ferdinand are perhaps the best two players who have transferred from Leeds to United in the Premier League era with Leeds’ loss being United’s gain with the prolific Frenchman. Alan Smith was also a good player for United at the time he signed for the club.
Written by John Walker
