Leeds take on Nottingham Forest at Elland Road tonight in what is simply a massive fixture for Javi Gracia.
The Spaniard currently finds his side sat 18th in the Premier League with 26 points to their name, one point from safety after Saturday’s 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal.
In regards to Nottingham Forest, they sit 16th – one point above Leeds – so tonight’s clash represents a huge opportunity for the Whites to climb out of the relegation zone.
Ahead of the six-pointer between Leeds and Nottingham Forest, let’s take a look at the XI we think Gracia will deploy…
Leeds predicted XI to face Nottingham Forest
As you can see below, we think Gracia will choose to start Patrick Bamford in the No.9 role.
The England international started on the bench at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, with Leeds lacking a focal point as Gracia opted to deploy Brenden Aaronson as a lone striker.
We believe the United States international is far better suited to a No.10 role just behind the striker.
Therefore, we feel Gracia will use Aaronson in that area while reverting back to the 4-2-3-1 system we saw in the 4-2 win over Wolves, compared to the 4-3-3 used against Arsenal.
Rasmus Kristensen actually started in central midfield against the Gunners, but we think the £10m man will have a new position this week at right-back in place of Luke Ayling, who was very poor on Saturday.
The Leeds No.2 needlessly fouled Gabriel Jesus to give Arsenal the penalty which put them 1-0 up, before allowing Granit Xhaka to waltz in behind him to nod home a fourth goal for the north Londoners.
Up against tricky forwards such as Brennan Johnson, Morgan Gibbs-White and Emmanuel Dennis in Yorkshire tonight, Gracia cannot afford to risk Ayling making similar errors.
We think Weston McKennie will come back into midfield in place of Kristensen to provide balance, while the Dane replaces Ayling at right-back and Luis Sinisterra drops to the bench to acommodate Bamford starting.
Gracia strongly hinted that Tyler Adams, Wilfried Gnonto and Maximilian Wöber would still be unavailable for tonight’s clash in his press conference on Monday.
Leeds Live quote the 52-year-old as saying: “About injured players, I prefer not to say anything. You know that our situation isn’t good about injured players, and all the medical staff and injured players are working really hard to recover as soon as possible. But in two or three days, the things do not change a lot.”
Whatever lineup Gracia chooses to select for tonight’s game, it is undoubtedly a do not lose affair for Leeds.
If they do allow Nottingham Forest to move three points further away from them, relegation fears in Yorkshire will intensify significantly.
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