The Leeds United v Huddersfield Town derby is always hugely competitive – and I expect this latest renewal to be no different.
I was at Elland Road at couple of weeks ago with my son Dean, who is a Leeds fan, and I was telling him about the first time I played there with Town.
It was at this time of year in 1985 and we got a 0-0 draw.
I actually had the ball in the net, but the goal was disallowed, and I don’t think Dean quite believed me.
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To be honest, I didn’t also explain to him that Dave Cowling put a sitter of a chance right on my head in the first half which I managed to miss!
I still remember, though, how getting that 0-0 draw at Leeds felt like a win – and to this day the derby is fiercely contested.
No doubt it will be exactly the same this weekend.
When I watched Leeds play Bolton I thought to myself ‘this is a Leeds team to be taken on’.
But then they went and won at Cardiff and Blackburn at odds of 3/1 and 4/1, which shows how impossible it is to predict in the Championship this year.
I have no idea how the match will go, but good luck to David Wagner and his team.
Leeds v Town
Leicester City the underdog must now handle becoming Premier League title favourites
The Premier League title race is really hotting up.
And the ‘Leicester City can’t win the title’ talk is getting less and less!
Anybody who looks at the fixture list and thinks Leicester have an easy run-in aren’t quite understanding one thing.
That one thing is the difference between the underdog becoming the favourite.
Recently dropped points for Leicester – although there have not been many!– have come against West Brom, Aston Villa and Bournemouth, in addition to defeats against Arsenal and Tottenham.
And they have scraped 1-0 victories against struggling Norwich and Newcastle.
This is a side more suited to being the underdog.
I am sure teams will now set up camp on the edge of the area against Leicester to deny Jamie Vardy space to run into in behind.
This will pose a few different problems for Claudio Ranieri’s men.
One other factor to note is Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham have just lost 3-0 to Borussia Dortmund and look like going out of the Europa League.
His immediate comment was ‘we need three points at Aston Villa’ – and they went out and got them to remain just five points behind leaders Leicester at the top.
Pochettino now has Leicester in his sights, and that will be his focus for the rest of the season.
