David Prutton has shared his prediction for Leeds United’s clash with Middlesbrough on Monday night.
Leeds make the trip to the Riverside looking to return to winning ways and get their automatic promotion push back on track in what is now the crunch time of the season.
Since the international break, Leeds have picked up just five points from a possible 15 available, but thankfully are still in the race due to slip-ups from both Ipswich Town and Leicester City. That said, only a win would do here, with LeedsUnited.news predicting a minimum of seven points will be needed.
The nine-day rest since Leeds’ disappointing 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers should hopefully stand Daniel Farke’s side in good stead, with a number of players clearly feeling the effects of the busy schedule.
Leeds will be hoping they are up against a Boro side whose eye is slightly off the ball, with their hopes of a top six finish all but over this season.
Prutton shares his prediction for Leeds’ trip to Boro
As mentioned, this game will prove crucial to Leeds’ top two hopes as with three matches left of the season, the margin of error is now slim.
Pundits such as Danny Murphy are still backing Leeds to get the job done, but with Leicester and Southampton both in action 48 hours before, the pressure could be on.
And speaking on the latest episode of the Sky Sports EFL predictions podcast, Prutton has tipped Leeds to get back on track with an extremely hard-fought victory on Teesside.
He said: “Yes, and they need one don’t they because of what’s going on around them.
“They’ve looked in a bit of a funk the last few games and not at their rhythmic best but maybe having some real confidence that comes from a whole batch of EFL awards that got chucked their way collectively, maybe that’s spurred them back on because my god they’ve got to get back to it.
“But, it’s not straightforward, as we know, against a Boro side that has at times looked effective this season under Michael [Carrick], but they’ll be disappointed that they’re not going to be knocking on the door of the top six. Prediction: Boro 1-2 Leeds.“
Predicted Leeds XI to face Boro on Monday
It will be interesting to see what sort of changes Farke makes to his starting XI after such a disappointing result and performance last time out.
Connor Roberts will be unavailable again after suffering a recurrence of the injury he picked up on international duty with Wales last month.
Archie Gray is likely to move back to right-back, with Glen Kamara back in midfield having been dropped to the bench against Blackburn.
Farke also has a massive call to make in attack with the change of Joel Piroe for Patrick Bamford not working seven days ago. Both Bamford and Mateo Joseph are pushing to start.