Leeds United have been pretty decent on their return to Premier League after years of agony and anguish. Marcelo Bielsa’s brand of football is beguiling and boisterous irrespective of the outcome and the Friday night fixture against Wolves should offer an enticing encounter at Molineux.
Wolves, meanwhile, are struggling for goals since Raul Jimenez’s injury misfortune. They would primarily concentrate on maintaining the defensive composure against the free-scoring Whites but, at the same time, must offer more while staging counter-attacking threats to take advantage of Leeds’ depleted backline. Their makeshift defence conceded four last weekend against Arsenal and the hosts, therefore, should go for all three points to climb up the league ladder.
Predicted 4-1-4-1 Leeds United Lineup To Face Wolves
Defence
Despite being erroneous at times, the iconic Argentine has relied upon the 20-year-old Illan Meslier between the sticks ahead of veteran Francisco Casilla. The young Frenchman has shown enough traits to be a future star and is expected to retain the ‘number 1’ status for the remainder of the ongoing term.
Defence remains a concern though for the Yorkshire giants with central defensive duo Diego Llorente and Robin Koch sidelined for quite some time. Gaetano Berardi is back in training but lacks the fitness required to compete at the highest level. This would see right-back Luke Ayling shifting as a centre-half once again alongside skipper Liam Cooper, whereas Jamie Shackleton might slot in down the right, similar to the Arsenal fixture. Gjanni Alioski should feature as the left fullback – a role he has attuned to in spite of being a wide attacker or ‘number 10’ predominantly.
Midfield
A calf injury is troubling Kalvin Phillips in recent weeks and the absence of the England international would be a massive blow considering his significance deep down the midfield. Pascal Struijk should occupy the ‘hole’ unless the Three Lions star passes a late fitness test prior to Wolverhampton.
Mateusz Klich played through injury against the Gunners but is a major doubt now for the Friday clash. Although Pablo Hernandez is available for selection, the gaffer might bank on Tyler Roberts (who had an impressive cameo at Emirates since replacing Klich at the break) to partner versatile Stuart Dallas in central midfield. They also have fitness woes down the wide with Rodrigo and Ian Poveda sidelined, but the presence of Raphinha and Jack Harrison as inverted wingers would still provide the quality and width in the attacking third.
Attack
The transformation of Patrick Bamford has been scintillating under Bielsa. The Englishman is in contention to become the league’s top scorer and would look to fire in against Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, having failed to impress in the Elland Road tie.
