Manchester United will look for back-to-back wins when they travel to Elland Road to face Leeds United in the English Premier League. Both teams met each other in Matchweek One this season, and Manchester United won the match by a scoreline of 5-1. Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick for the Red Devils. Leeds United lost their previous match against Everton and have struggled to find their last season’s form.
Leeds United lost their tenth match of the season against Everton. They have won five matches and drawn eight. When looking at the above chart, the general rule is that the longer the bar, the better the performance — you can see the league average in the middle, and the % is the percentile rank the player is in. Leeds United have scored 27 goals with an xG rate of 32.53. In return, they have conceded 46 goals with an xGA of 42.71. The home team has a low percentile rank when it comes to attacking, but defensively, Leeds United have a better percentile rank. The team is involved in the highest number of defensive actions in the league with a high success rate. Bielsa’s men have also contested the highest number of defensive duels in the league.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men have attempted 305 shots, and 100 of them have been on target. 166 of the 305 shots have been attempted from inside the opposition’s penalty box, and 61 of those shots were on target. The above map shows all the shots attempted from open play. Leeds United have scored a few goals from right in front of the goal line. Raphinha is their main threat when it comes to scoring goals, and he has attempted the most shots for his side.
Stuart Dallas could return to the team after getting injured early in the last game. Daniel James is expected to start against his former club.
Manchester United have won 12, drawn seven, and lost six games this season. The Red Devils have scored 40 goals and an average of 1.44 goals per 90 minutes. The overall xG rate of the team is 38.4 with an average of 1.42 xG per 90 minutes. Their defense is leaky and has conceded 32 goals this season. From the above chart, we can observe that Manchester United have a high attacking action success rate. The passing has been average, and the percentile rank is only high for pass accuracy and passes attempted into the opposition’s final third. Defensively, the defensive actions and aerial duels success rate is high in comparison to the other teams.
The Red Devils have attempted 349 shots and average 12.85 shots per 90 minutes. 120 of the 349 shots have been on target. Rangnick’s men have attempted 204 shots from inside the opposition’s penalty box, and 83 of those shots have been on target. Manchester United have been poor on set-pieces this season but have scored almost every goal from open play. Cristiano Ronaldo is their main threat going forward, and the Portuguese scored a goal recently against Brighton.
Raphael Varane is declared fit after missing the last game. Nemanja Matic and Eric Bailly are also fit and will likely make the squad. Alex Telles could also replace Luke Shaw on the left.
The Red Devils will look for a double over Leeds United in the league this season. This is a must-win game for them to challenge the other teams for a European spot.
