Leeds United face the Christmas period in joint 12th place in the Championship and within sight of the Championship play-off places. A good haul of points could put them into a serious position, a bad haul could see them drop agonisingly away.
10-game form table
Nothing much separates Leeds United and Nottingham Forest in terms of relative placing in the current Championship table with Leeds in joint-12th on 29 points and Forest just behind the Whites in 15th and on 28 points. Long term form (over last 10 games) sees Leeds in 6th place with 17 points over the last 10 games (1.70 points per game) from five wins, two draws and three losses. Forest sit in 10th in the 10-game form table with 15 points (1.50 points per game) courtesy of four wins, three draws and three losses.
Playing teams from mid-third of table
With the positions of both teams being firmly defined as ‘mid-table’ (Leeds joint-12th and Forest 15th), it’s an interesting comparison to see how they perform against teams from this area of the table. Against teams from the ‘middle third’ of the table, Leeds perform better (1.33 points per game) than Forest (1.17 points per game) with both teams having played six games against teams occupying middle third placings in the Championship. The difference in these games is that Leeds have found it easier to gain points from midle-third teams despite their relatively low scoring (F3, A4, GD -1), whilst Forest have three losses against similar teams despite being much higher frequency scorers (F7, A7, GD 0)
Closer each day: Home and Away
Home attack vs away defence
Nottingham Forest have the Championship’s joint-10th rated ‘home attack’ which garners an average of 1.36 goals per game at the City Ground. Forest have been winning at both half time and full time in their last four Championship games at home and have scored at least two goals in each of their last three home games. Defensively, away from Elland Road, Leeds United have the joint-8th rated ‘away defence’, one which concedes 1.09 goals per game on their travels. Looking at it this way, Forest have a slim chance of scoring with their 1.36 goals scored per home game output being above the 1.09 goals that Leeds United tend to concede on their travels.
Away attack vs home defence
Leeds United’s ‘away attack’ is rated joint-8th in the Championship and scores 1.27 goals per away game. Leeds’ recent improvements away from home have seen the Whites silence and outplay a potentially dangerous Wolves side – scoring three well-taken goals in the process. Leeds’ improved away attack will come up against Forest’s ‘home defence’ which is rated joint-7th in the league, conceding an average of only 0.91 goals per game. A sign of this meanness is that Forest’s defence have kept three clean sheets at home, allowed only one goal on six occasions and have only had two scored against them twice. Again, Leeds’ superior scoring rate (1.27 goals per game) should mean they have a chance to chip away at Forest’s Scrooge-like home defence (0.91 goals conceded per game)
Likely Score – fan opinion
https://www.wedgies.com/question/567ac1947701391000001981
Steve Evans’ pre-match press conference
https://youtu.be/EZADEjy7AUg
All statistics mentioned derived from Statto.com
