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Leeds Face Derby In Big Championship Clash

The Championship is one of those divisions that you just never quite know what to make of. From top to bottom it’s full of teams that can’t seem to decide whether or not they want to get promoted, want to be relegated, or want to linger in the middle of the table. Most fans tend to think that makes for an exciting league and while we tend to agree, this season feels different. A lot of the teams have been pretty uninspiring despite being situated towards the top of the table, which leaves us wondering whether or not they’ll be able to handle the step up to the Premier League.

Alas, we won’t know for sure until we actually see what transpires, so we’re just going to sit back and watch the fun unfold. That fun continues tomorrow night at Elland Road, as Leeds United prepare to host Derby County. This is a fixture that certainly has a hefty back story, to the point where it’d take far too long for us to go through it here today. Dating all the way back to the days of Don Revie vs Brian Clough these sides have harboured a real dislike for one another, and that almost always makes for some entertaining encounters.

We’re expecting to see much of the same tomorrow, especially when you consider where both of these sides are in the Championship table. Leeds are currently leading the way in the charge for promotion, although they’ve certainly had a lot of lucky breaks throughout the course of the campaign. During any other year they’d probably be struggling to break into the top two with their record, but this time around, their inconsistency hasn’t actually impacted them too much – although we realise there’s still a long way to go.

On the other hand you’ve got Derby County, who are situated where many fans always expect them to be. They’re on the verge of another push for the playoffs but as we know from experience, they’re experts when it comes to letting their fans down. Under the guidance of Frank Lampard, though, it feels like they’ve turned a corner in recent months. He’s doing a much better job than anyone would’ve expected from him at this stage of the season, and with a strong January transfer window, there’s no reason why they can’t finally make the climb back up into the top flight.

In their last six game stretch Leeds have certainly put together an interesting string of results, which kind of highlights what we’ve been saying about their inconsistency. They put together three wins on the bounce against Bolton, Aston Villa and Blackburn, before going on a run that hardly fits the description of being the league leaders. They lost to Hull City, they lost to Nottingham Forest, and most recently they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Queens Park Rangers. Is this just a blip, or is it the start of the collapse?

On the other hand, Derby kicked off their recent six game stretch with a dull 0-0 draw against bitter rivals Nottingham Forest. They then secured another draw against Bristol City, before a 3-1 loss to Sheffield United really did lead people to believe that this just wasn’t going to be their year once again. Of course, in typical Derby County fashion they managed to rebound with a fairly remarkable win, defeating Norwich 4-3. Two draws against Middlesbrough and Southampton soon followed, but the important thing for them is that they’re still in the mix with a few months left in the season.

As we’ve already noted these two teams go way back, with their first meeting taking place in 1922. Leeds are currently leading the overall head to head standings 55-37, with 28 draws to go alongside that record. In their last game back in August, Leeds embarrassed Derby with an emphatic 4-1 win. You can bet that Lampard hasn’t forgotten about that one, and while both teams have evolved and changed in different ways since then, Leeds will certainly take pride and confidence in the knowledge that they’re more than capable of putting Derby in their place.

Changes will have to be made by the home side, with Kalvin Phillips being sent off for his challenge in the Nottingham Forest game meaning that he is now suspended. Aapo Halme is expected to come intot he starting XI, wtih Jack Clarke also being tipped for a start. Jack Harrison will drop out, but aside from that, Leeds should have a fully fit squad to choose from. Of course, that’ll mean nothing when you think about it, because the important thing for Marcelo Bielsa is going to be getting back in the win column. If they don’t, their promotion push could start to slip away pretty quickly.

Tom Huddlestone is eager to make an impact in this one after missing the game against Middlesbrough, with Martyn Waghorn likely being the man who is taken out of the first team as a result. Andre Wisdom will feature at left back with Scott Malone still being unavailable, and when you take a look at Derby’s squad, there’s an argument to be made that their side is actually stronger in certain departments than Leeds. Still, with that being said, they’ll have to play to their full potential if they even want to come close to registering a much needed win here.

Leeds vs Derby Betting Prediction

The trick with the Championship is to expect the unexpected, which is hardly a revelation. It’s so unbelievably unpredictable that you kind of need to suspend all forms of logic, which is what we’re going to do here. We’re expecting these two to just slug it out for the three points, and that’ll likely make for quite an entertaining encounter. We think Derby will end up taking the lead around half way through the first half, before being pegged back early in the second half by the league leaders.

They’ll trade shots back and forth in the kind of game where you just know a winner is coming, and then, the Rams will score a later winner to really put the cat among the pigeons.

There’s still a long way to go for both teams before they can really know what to expect from their season, but isn’t that the fun of it all? We tend to think that on their day, these are two of the best teams in the second tier, but that doesn’t mean a thing. Many fans will be hoping for big things in the transfer window but either way, we’re going with Derby to win it.