Leeds United vs Cardiff City tips: Premier League quality to prove decisive at Elland Road
- George Dempsey
- 2 August 2023
Leeds United will begin life back in the Championship on Sunday as they host Cardiff City at Elland Road live on Sky Sports.
Leeds United are an extremely short price to beat visitors Cardiff City at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon.
Date, KO time and TV coverage
EFL Championship, Sunday August 6, Kick-off 2:30pm, live on Sky Sports Football
Predicted score
Leeds United 3-1 Cardiff City
Championship betting tips
Leeds United vs Cardiff City betting preview
Leeds United's lifeless relegation from the Premier League means they're back in the Championship and expectations are high for the Yorkshire club.
Cardiff City is set for yet another season under mad hatter owner, Vincent Tan, who reportedly wasn't sold on the appointment of Erol Bulut despite signing off on it.
His City side failed to beat League One Wycombe and Cambridge during pre-season and tested themselves in 1-0 and 4-0 losses to Braga and Porto respectively.
Leeds are an extremely short price for Sunday's clash with Cardiff, one which suggests they'll batter the visitors and score a glut of goals.
The Whites have looked controlled in pre-season, beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 before a dominant display of possession in a 1-0 win against Hearts.
Early indications are that Illan Meslier will don the gloves on Sunday with Liam Cooper and Pascal Struijk in the heart of the defence, while Ethan Ampadu will protect the back four.
Farke is still desperately short of options in midfield and defence, while injuries to Patrick Bamford, Jack Harrison and Georginio Rutter mean they're at risk of missing the game.
Despite the injuries, there's no shortage of quality in attack. Leeds has retained Willy Gnonto, Luis Sinisterra, Daniel James and Crysencio Summerville, all of whom arguably don't belong at this level.
The hosts will dominate possession and create chances, so the focus for Cardiff will be getting men behind the ball and defending the box as best they can.
New signing Dimitrios Goutas could be key to Cardiff developing their rearguard capabilities this season, although preferred partner Mark McGuiness is a doubt due to injury.
Ebou Adams has been favoured over Andy Rinomhota in the destroyer role and is likely to partner Ryan Wintle and Aaron Ramsey in midfield if Ruben Colwill doesn't recover in time.
Those three will have to get through a lot of work and perform their fair share of box-to-box sprints if Cardiff has any chance of disrupting Leeds' flow and hitting them on the break.
The Bluebirds failed to win 16 of their 23 away matches in the Championship last season, but that doesn't tell the full story. You can learn more from the seven that they did win.
They were victorious on their travels against Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Watford, despite averaging just under 33% possession. That's going to be the game plan on Sunday.
Can they execute it? There are always unknowns at the start of the season, but Leeds don't look affected by relegation and they have superior quality in almost every position.
Cardiff's midfield doesn't look the most mobile and Leeds will emphasise overloading that area in possession with the left-back stepping forward or wingers coming narrow.
The Welsh side's best chance could be to pinch an early goal while the game is settling, but they'll struggle as the game goes on and Premier League quality players find space against tired opposition.
