Leeds v West Ham Betting Tips: Honours even at Elland Road tonight?
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The weekend begins with a humdinger at Elland Road as Leeds United host West Ham in the Premier League for the first time since a Seth Johnson goal separated the sides all the way back in 2003.
Both teams were on a downward trajectory 17 years ago, with the Hammers relegated at the end of the campaign and their Yorkshire opponents following suit in dramatic fashion 12 months later.
Times have changed now, though, and the pair go head-to-head this evening with West Ham looking to move into fifth, while Leeds have their eyes on the top-half of the table. It’s all set up to be a veritable Christmas cracker, and it’s one we’ve previewed in our Leeds v West Ham Betting Tips.
Match Odds
Leeds may have only won twice since the back end of September, but our traders have them down as 6/5 favourites to pick up only their second win of the season at Elland Road. West Ham had won three in a row prior to last week’s reverse against Manchester United and are 21/10 to return to form with victory here.
In our eyes there’s probably not a lot to split the pair of them, and while a draw is available at 13/5, we also go 6/1 about the pair playing out a 1-1 stalemate. Regardless of scoreline, there should at least be goals in the game with matches involving these two producing 68 goals so far this season. Both Teams to Score is priced at 1/2.
Talking Tactics
Marcelo Bielsa has problems at centre-half with Robin Koch and Diego Llorente both out. Luke Ayling will shift across to partner Liam Cooper as a result, allowing Ezgjan Alioski and Stuart Dallas to start at full-back.
Elsewhere, Mateusz Klich and Kalvin Phillips will combine in the centre of the park, while new signing Raphinha will continue on the right with Rodrigo playing behind Patrick Bamford in a 4-4-1-1 formation.
David Moyes is unlikely to diverge too much from the side who were stunned by United last week, although Michail Antonio remains a doubt, which means Sebastian Haller should continue up-front.
He’ll take up position in the centre of a three alongside Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals, with Said Benrahma likely to miss out once again. Ryan Cresswell is expected to continue in the back three.
Goalscorer Odds
Bamford has proved a revelation in the top-flight and sits behind only Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Son Heung-Min, Jamie Vardy, Mo Salah and Harry Kane in the goalscorer charts.
He’s scored five of Leeds’s last seven goals and is 6/5 to score anytime or 7/2 to score first. Elsewhere, exciting star Raphinha is 13/5 to double his tally for the Whites, while Rodrigo is a 9/4 chance.
On the opposite side, the onus is likely to fall on Bowen who is a 5/2 chance to score his fifth of the season. Haller is 7/4 to bring his season’s tally to three in the absence of Antonio.
At a bigger price, Tomas Soucek is one Czech you definitely do want to bounce and given Leeds have conceded goals to both Scott Dann and Kurt Zouma in recent weeks, his aerial threat could pay dividends at 11/4.
Match Info
Where: Elland Road, Leeds.
When: 20:00, Friday 11th December.
How to Watch: Sky Sports Main Event / Sky Sports Football.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
