Leeds – Fulham: A battle between two Premier League new boys on Saturday (Watch live at 10am ET, online via Peacock) is the first top-flight game at Elland Road for over 16 years.
Marcelo Bielsa and Scott Parker both delivered promotion from the Championship last season and both were expected to, even though Bielsa is the revered master of coaching and Parker is only in his second full season as a head coach. These new boys have very different styles of play but ultimately they are both much better going forward than they are at the back.
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Here is everything you need to know ahead of Leeds – Fulham this Saturday with team news, odds, stream link and more.
Team news: Fulham – Leeds (INJURY REPORT)
Leeds could welcome back captain and center back Liam Cooper who is pushing back from injury, while Adam Forshaw will not be available.
Fulham could have a host of new players back ready, as Alphonse Areola, Kenny Tete, Mario Lemina and Antonee Robinson all made their Fulham debuts in the League Cup in midweek.
What they’re saying
Marcelo Bielsa on Leeds’ start to life back in the Premier League: “Every game is a new story. We will try to correct all the things we did badly against Liverpool and we will try to maintain all the good things. A positive performance always gives a certain amount of optimism and a defeat generates sadness. This week the two of those things combined. The season is very new and the adaptation of the new players is going to take a while, which is the same for everybody.”
Scott Parker on facing Leeds and if it will give him a better idea of where they’re at compared to playing v. Arsenal: “Yeah, definitely, [but] saying that, we want to be competitive in those games [too]. Every game we go into we want to be competitive and get something out of the game. Of course, this weekend we go to another promoted team, a team that won the division last year, very handsomely, who have spent a lot of money to improve the team even more. The challenge for us is we want to go in and try and get a result in this game, like we will do every game this year, so we’ll try and do that and plan accordingly to get a result.”
Odds and ends (full odds provided by our partner, PointsBet)
Leeds (-160) are the heavy favorites but Fulham (+450) are worth a pop at these huge odds. The draw (+290) is intriguing as the bookies were obviously impressed by Leeds’ opening day display at Liverpool, but were they too impressed?
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Prediction
I’m going to go for a draw here. I know people are well on board the Leeds bandwagon, and rightly so, but I still think there’s a lot for them to improve on before they start pushing for a top 10 finish in the Premier League. Fulham were a bit unlucky with the first two goals in their opening day loss to Arsenal and if Aleksandar Mitrovic is fit to play, he will have plenty of joy up top. 2-2.
How to watch Leeds – Fulham stream and start time
Kickoff: 10 am ET Saturday
Online: Stream via Peacock
Leeds – Fulham: How to watch, start time, team news, prediction, odds originally appeared on NBCSports.com
