Leeds United’s Elland Road ground will be eerily quiet come Saturday and the visit of playoff leaders Fulham. It promises to be one of those cliched ‘six-pointer’ games. Both sides are coming off of 2-0 losses and could do with the three points on offer.
A Fulham win, following the trend of away sides doing better in Covid-19 empty stadiums, would take them within four points of Leeds United. A Leeds United win would create a 10-point gap between themselves and the Cottagers with just 7 games left.
Elland Road hasn’t seen a crowd below 34,000 this season – the Whites topping the averages by a huge amount. There’s a lot made about a crowd being the 12th man effect; Elland Road is a bearpit atmosphere the majority of the time.
The Covid-19 lockdown has robbed the Whites of that live, 34,000+ crowd but Leeds United have countered that with 15,000+ cardboard cut-out ‘crowdies’. This will add a little normality to the rather sterile proceedings of behind-closed-doors football.
However, Phil Hay writing in The Athletic, says that the EFL are set to put the kybosh on another idea that was being played with. Experiments had taken place with Leeds-specific amplified crowd noises being played through speakers situated around the stadium. Indeed, the Whites had played a training game against each other amidst it.
Hay writes of this scenario, stating:
“The EFL is likely to ban audio from the stands across the Championship to prevent any dispute about unfair distractions but Leeds, like every club, are doing what they can to make their ground feel like home and the new normal less peculiar.”
Leeds United will be hoping to grab those vital three points on Saturday in front of a 15,000+ crowdie at Elland Road. However, it doesn’t look like they will be allowed to pump it up…even if they are going up.
