England Premier League
Saturday 6th August 2022
Kick off at 3pm BST
Venue: Elland Road
Match Preview:
Leeds and the Premier League that is something that the fans would have been rejoicing over the summer because the club survived by the skin of their teeth on the final day of the season. But here they are and the project for manager Jesse Marsch is simple, improve the standing where the club can go into the final few months of the campaign and not have to worry about relegation.
The worry for Leeds is losing two big players in Kalvin Phillips to Manchester City and Raphinha to Barcelona, though the club received almost £100m for the pair. They have been busy buying players although it is fair to say not house hold names but they may have unearthed some gems only time will tell. Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen have come in from Red Bull Salzburg and Aaronson is being tipped to be a major player for the USA national team.
Jesse Marsch’s side lost only one game in pre-season which came against Aston Villa but the talk of the town was their last friendly in which they put six goals past Italians Cagliari in a 6-2 thrashing at home. There have also been wins over Blackpool and Brisbane Roar.
Wolves finished in 10th place last season with 51 points and only missed out on European football by five points. All in all it wasn’t bad going from Bruno Lage in his debut managerial season for the club. At the time of writing Wolves have been very quiet on the transfer front although they have made a permanent move for Hwang Hee-chan who impressed on loan from RB Leipzig last season. Ruben Vinagre has been sold to Sporting for £9m and yet Wolves may have to face the player this season as he has been loaned back out to Premier League side Everton.
Pre-season has seen some mixed results but everyone associated with the club still would have been encouraged to see wins over the likes of Alaves and Besiktas, though there was a defeat against the Villarreal B team there has as always been plenty of line up changes in these games.
Team News:
Leeds: Daniel James is serving a suspension from last season and is ruled out. Junior Firpo could be out for 1 month due to a knock injury. Adam Forshaw is only 50/50 to make the game due to a knee injury. Luke Ayling is out with his knee and not due back until September. Stuart Dallas is out long term with a leg injury and isn’t expected back until November.
Wolves: Raul Jimenez could miss several weeks with no fixed return date due to a knee injury. Nelson Semedo has a hamstring injury and while he hasn’t been ruled out for this game he is a major doubt. Adama Traore is only 50/50 to make the game also due to a hamstring injury. Chiquinho could miss the rest of the year due to a pre-season knee injury.
Leeds vs Wolves Head to Head:
Last season this fixture finished 1-1.
Wolves have won 5 of the last seven meetings, although failed to beat Leeds last season.
3 of the last four meetings have seen under 2.5 goals.
Leeds vs Wolves Prediction:
Wolves will come here to win but the pressure is on Leeds to get off to a great start and vanquish last season’s memories. The problem that Leeds have is that they have lost genuine quality and while they have brought in some players we have no idea as of yet if they will be up to the level of playing in the Premier League week in and week out.
Quality is something that could well affect Wolves too, they have been poor in the transfer market so far and received a major blow a few weeks ago with the loss of Raul Jimenez for the beginning of the campaign. So coupled with this knowledge and the fact that not too many goals have been scored in recent fixtures we don’t feel we will see a good game here and it could be that both sides would be happy to get a point on the board on the opening weekend.
Leeds vs Wolves Betting Tips:
Asian handicap (0.0 Leeds) at 1.65
Under 2.5 goals at 1.80
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