JUST IN: ‘New’ kick-off time for Leeds United vs. Stoke City, TV channel, prediction, team news, lineups, scores, referee, and VAR.
JUST IN: ‘New’ kick-off time for Leeds United vs. Stoke City Albion, TV channel,
prediction, team news, lineups, scores, referee, and VAR.
Seeking to snap a two-game winless run across all tournaments,
Leeds United host Stoke City at their Elland Road headquarters in Tuesday’s Championship showdown.
The Whites were forced to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw with
Huddersfield Town over the weekend, while the Potters sunk Middlesbrough 2-0 to breathe new life into their survival bid.
Match Preview
Nine wins from nine Championship matches in 2024 was expected to become 10 from 10 for
Leeds at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday, as the promotion-chasing
Whites clashed with a Huddersfield Town side teetering dangerously close to the relegation line,
but their perfect second-tier streak since the turn of the year was finally broken.
A frenzied period of first-half injury time saw Michal Helik prod home the opener for
Huddersfield before Jonathan Hogg was rightly given his marching orders for two bookable offences,
and Leeds made their extra man count midway through the second half as Patrick Bamford swept home the leveller.
However, Leeds could not convert one point into three against the 10-man Terriers,
leading to a palpable sense of disappointment at the full-time whistle, although
Daniel Farke felt that a couple more officiating decisions could have gone his side’s way
as a foul-happy Huddersfield scrapped for a point.
With 11 games of the regular season left to play, automatic promotion is now out of
Leeds’ hands as they sit third in the Championship standings, two points worse off than
Ipswich Town and five behind leaders Leicester City, and the impending international
break will be a welcome sight for a team who have played eight times since the start of February.
Farke’s men now return to a ground where they are incredibly yet to suffer a single
competitive defeat in 2023-24 – winning 13 of their last 14 Championship games and
each of their last six at Elland Road – and they remain the only team in the second tier with their unbeaten home record still intact.
Thirty-eight goals scored in front of the home crowd is also the second-best record of its
kind behind Ipswich’s 44, and Leeds have conceded a league-low 12 goals on familiar territory,
suggesting that Stoke certainly have their work cut out on Tuesday night.
The Potters share something in common with their midweek hosts, though, as both sides are
fighting to clamber above a dotted line between now and the end of the campaign, and
Steven Schumacher’s men reignited their survival quest with a two-goal beating of Boro on Saturday.
Low strikes in either half from Bae Jun-ho and Lewis Baker gave the sparsely-populated
bet365 Stadium crowd plenty to cheer, and Stoke are now one of four sides on 38 points,
but their inferior goalscoring tally means that they remain in the drop zone in 22nd spot.
Such is the congested nature of the Championship standings that Stoke are only two points worse
off than Plymouth Argyle in 16th, but their away form does not provide any reassurance ahead
of their trip to Leeds’ Elland Road fortress, as they have lost their last three on the road to Sunderland,
Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff City.
The Potters faithful should be encouraged by their team’s nine-game scoring streak in
Championship away matches, though, and Stoke eked out a surprise 1-0 win over
Leeds at the bet365 Stadium back in October, but their last stopover at Elland Road in July 2020 ended in a 5-0 mauling.
Leeds United Championship form:
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Leeds United form (all competitions):
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Stoke City Championship form:
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Team News
After working with several doubts for the FA Cup loss to Chelsea, Farke had all of Bamford,
Georginio Rutter, Crysencio Summerville and Ilia Gruev at his disposal for the meeting with
Huddersfield, where each member of the quartet completed the full 90 minutes.
A quintet of players were missing from the squad at the weekend, though, including
Stuart Dallas (hip), Pascal Struijk (groin), Karl Darlow (thumb), Joe Gelhardt (back)
and Jamie Shackleton (illness), but Gelhardt battle back in time for Tuesday.
The hosts will also be without Jaidon Anthony due to personal reasons, while left-back
Junior Firpo picked up a slight calf injury against Huddersfield and is a doubt.
Farke may still be tempted to tinker with his attacking system due to Bamford and
Summerville’s recent niggles – Joel Piroe and Daniel James are waiting in the wings
and the quick turnaround means that the former could come in for Bamford,
who has goals in each of his last three league home games.
Over at Stoke, Schumacher could once again be working without a recognised
left-back for the trip to Elland Road, as Jordan Thompson serves the second of a
two-game suspension for picking up his 10th booking of the Championship campaign against Cardiff City last month.
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