Andy Hinchcliffe told Sky Sports during their live coverage of Premier League football on Tuesday that Dean Smith will find it ‘very difficult’ to get a result against Leeds at the weekend.
Albeit not rivals by history or geography, the Leeds and Aston Villa affair is beginning to bubble up in recent years after some hotly-contested showdowns in the Championship.
Leeds go into Saturday’s game after thrashing Southampton 3-0 and if they beat an out-of-form and potentially minus-Jack Grealish Aston Villa side then they’ll leapfrog them into eighth place.
And ex-Everton defender Hinchcliffe suggested that the points will stay in Yorkshire when Villa come to visit next.
“Well, it’s Aston Villa up for Leeds here on Saturday and I just wonder how Dean Smith will feel watching this second-half performance,” said Hinchcliffe.
“Of course, it looks like Jack Grealish is going to miss that game as well.
“It’s going to be very difficult for Villa to come here and get something.”
Grealish missed Aston Villa’s defeat to Leicester City at the weekend and Smith’s men fell to an expected loss.
Without their expert ball-carrier in the team, life is no doubt much tougher for the Midlands outfit and it will be no different against this Leeds team.
The Whites put three past Villa earlier on in the campaign, and the last time they met at Elland Road, Pontus Jansson was losing it after Marcelo Bielsa allowed Villa to score an uncontested goal in one of the most remarkable matches in Championship history.
More of the same will do no-one, aside from the team that loses, no harm at all.
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