Tuesday, December 29, 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: Leeds United-West Brom Preview

Sam Allardyce believes West Brom's display in their smash-and-grab draw at Anfield showed him that his team have the desire to avoid Premier League relegation.

Against the odds, the Baggies snatched a 1-1 draw against the champions thanks to Semi Ajayi's late header on Sunday.

They have little time for rest, with a home clash against fellow promoted side Leeds United coming up on Tuesday.

"Really good organisation, a team trying their very best to nullify the best team in this league at their own patch, and what a fantastic job they did," Allardyce told Sky Sports after the draw at Anfield.

"We're not the most constructive in terms of the amount of goals we score, that's obvious to see, so goals are precious to us.

"The lads have showed a lot of grit, determination, organisation and team spirit at a difficult place. I've seen the players telling me that they really want to stay in this division."

Leeds, meanwhile, bounced back from their 6-2 thrashing at Old Trafford with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Burnley - Patrick Bamford's early penalty proving enough.

"We've had our ups and downs," Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa said after Sunday's win, in which his team had less possession than the Clarets.

"Our objective is to be able to compete on an even keel with all our opponents in the Premier League, but it is not an easy task.

"For example, if you look at what happened at the end of the second half. We had to adapt to a situation we hadn't faced up until now and the result was in danger. So every game in the Premier League is a big challenge."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

West Brom - Karlan Grant

It would be expected that West Brom will play mostly on the counter yet again, meaning the onus will be on Grant - who missed a great chance against Liverpool - to convert those opportunities.

Leeds United - Pascal Struijk

Recalled into a makeshift three-man defence, youngster Struijk performed admirably against Burnley's attack on Sunday, and will be hoping to have a run in the team with the likes of Diego Llorente, Liam Cooper and Robin Koch struggling with injury.

KEY OPTA FACTS

- West Brom have lost just one of their last six home league games against Leeds (W4 D1), with that defeat coming in their only previous Premier League game against them at the Hawthorns in August 2002 (1-3).

- Leeds have only won their final league game in one of the last 10 calendar years (D3 L6), though that victory did come in their last game of 2019, a 5-4 thriller at Birmingham City.

- West Brom have conceded eight goals in their last two home Premier League games, losing 1-5 against Crystal Palace and 0-3 against Aston Villa. They last conceded three or more goals in three consecutive home Premier League games in April 2014.

- Allardyce has won just one of his four home games against Leeds in all competitions (D1 L2), with this his first meeting with the Whites since a 2-2 draw in charge of West Ham in August 2011.

- Leeds forward Bamford has scored 10 goals in 15 Premier League games for the Whites this season, the most by a player for a newly promoted club at this stage of a season since Kevin Phillips had scored 13 in 15 games for Sunderland in 1999-2000.

No comments:

Post a Comment