Good Morning. It's Thursday 22nd February, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Opta Predict Automatic Promotion for Leeds
Sports analytics giants OPTA have indicated that Leeds have more than a fair chance of automatic promotion, come the end of the season according to Elland Road journalist Phil Hay. The OPTA super computer has been working in overdrive this season. Every bit of data has been scrutinised, and every eventuality carefully calculated, and finally, there's some good news for Leeds fans!
The super computer doesn't see any changes in the top four, with Leicester given a 98% of automatic promotion, and expected points tally of 103. Leeds are predicted to finish second on 94 points, three ahead of Ipswich in third, and four more than Southampton. Leeds have a 59% chance of automatic promotion, with Ipswich 25% and Southampton 18%. With 13 games to go, much can still change.
Leicester retain a 98 per cent chance of automatic promotion, with the odds decreasing as you go down the table. Southampton’s recent defeats (to Bristol City and Hull) saw them slide from second to fourth, denting their odds to an 18 per cent chance of going up in the top two.
As for projected final points tallies, Opta estimates that Leicester will finish on about 103 points, Leeds on 94, Ipswich on 91 and Southampton on 90. The gap between fourth and fifth, which has been sizeable all season, does not look likely to close in the remaining 13 fixtures, with West Bromwich Albion (on 55 points, 12 points behind Southampton) projected to finish on about 76 points. That leaves them with a 0.1 per cent chance of making the automatic promotion places, with a four-point gap between them and Coventry City in seventh.
Struijk on comeback trail
Pascal Struijk is finally on the road to recovery, and could be available for selection after the International break. The welcome news came at Daniel Farke's pre press conference yesterday as Leeds prepare for their top of the table clash against Leicester City on Friday evening. Struijk has been out of action since picking up a groin strain during their 2-1 defeat at Deepdale on Boxing Day. Whilst Ethan Ampadu has proved to be more than capable in central defence, he's more accomplished in-front of it!
The Leeds skipper has been in the gym and weights room at Thorp Arch building up his strength, and should be ready to join team training in a couple of weeks! According to Farke...
Positive, he’s allowed to extend his training load. The doctors mentioned over 2-2.5 weeks we have to build him up a bit. If everything works in the perfect way, he can be back in team training, then available for games after the international break.
New Huddersfield boss takes cheap shot at Leeds
New Huddersfield Town boss Andre Breitenreiter (nope, I've never heard of him either) took a sly dig at Leeds Utd during his first press conference since being appointed Chief dog botherer! The clearly deluded 50yo tried to convince the room that due to David Wagner, and having spent two years in the Premier League, Huddersfield Town are more well known than Leeds, back in Germany! Perhaps Breitenreiter should choose his battles more carefully. His side are two points from the drop zone, and have the worst aggregate outside of the bottom two.
Yes I read the newspaper yesterday and they told everyone about Huddersfield and me. Because of David Wagner, the promotion and two years in the Premier League, many people know about Huddersfield, more than about Leeds.
