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Ooh the former Everton striker is shaking his head. He’ll think he should have scored that. He was inches away, in fairness.
24 mins: Leeds corner. Okafor and Gudmunsson again link up nicely to get Abbott back-peddling at right-back.
Can the hosts finally make one of these count? So nearly! Calvert-Lewin’s header, again from the second phase cross, cannons down off the crossbar!
22 mins: If Forest’s forward players could stay onside they’d have a good chance of troubling Darlow even further in the Leeds goal.
20 mins: Ampadu v Gibbs-White is another tantalising individual battle. The Leeds captain is staying unerringly close to his opposite number whenever Forest are on the ball.
“Zach Abbott, he’s one of our own,” sing the Forest fans as the youngster’s long throw nearly brings about a goal, as Anderson’s cross – after the throw was initially cleared – is headed wide by Jesus.
18 mins: Forest are really starting to snap into their challenges in midfield, with Elliot Anderson particularly combative so far. The away side are growing into this, for sure.
Sangaré tries a ball over the top for Igor Jesus but the Brazilian is offside.
16 mins: We’ve just had our first proper glimpse of Calvert-Lewin versus Milenkovic. That’s shaping up to be a key battle in this game, the outcome of which could decide where the points go.
14 mins: The opening to this game has been like a basketball match. Leeds are looking to be ultra-positive, which is leaving gaps for Forest to exploit.
13 mins: Domínguez was just trying to guide that one into the far corner with his left-foot, from the inside-right position. Darlow said no.
A couple of corners for Forest now as their incisive play on the break begins to pay dividends.
12 mins: That’s a more difficult save for Darlow as he superbly denies Domínguez! Forest are getting some room to play their stuff on the counter-attack, with Gibbs-White again at the heart of that sequence.
10 mins: In fairness to Forest they’ve defended these corners very well so far.
Gibbs-White now gets some space on the break and feeds Hudson-Odoi, who cuts inside and tests Darlow with the visitors’ first shot of the game. It’s a fairly easy save.
9 mins: Sangaré attempts to get stuck in but succeeds only in conceding a free-kick. Leeds are looking to fizz it out wide to their wing-backs at every opportunity. Okafor is the latest to send in a cross form the left and Aina is forced to scoop it clear – for yet another corner kick.
7 mins: Someone in Forest red needs to get their foot on the ball. This is relentless at the moment. They’ve had 4% possession, apparently.
5 mins: Leeds are well on top at the moment. Another Gudmundsson cross causes chaos as Abbott sticks out a leg and is fortunate not to score an own goal on Premier League debut. Another corner.
3 mins: Noah Okafor and Gabriel Gudmundsson have both looked to run at Abbott in the early stages. Leeds are finding some joy down the left already, with Gudmundsson ghosting past Domínguez and pulling it back for Aaronson, whose flicked effort is blocked for a corner.
2 mins: Forest’s young defender Zach Abbott has lined up at right-back, with Ola Aina on the left and Morato playing centrally. It’s a massively reshuffled defence from Sean Dyche, if you also consider there’s a new goalkeeper on the pitch.
KICK OFF
The referee Peter Bankes gets us started.
Why are Leeds’ fans booing the Premier League anthem? Why do any clubs’ supporters boo it?
We may never know. Just an instinctive thing?
I’m reliably informed by Sky Sports that this is just the 14th Premier League clash between Leeds and Forest and the seventh at Elland Road. Between 2004 and 2020 they were regularly in the same division, bar the odd season, and that was the Championship.
The players are coming out of the tunnel now and the ground is humming. Let’s do this thing.
A prediction from Allan Castle: “2-1 home win. That’s the modal Premier League outcome, and looks nailed on here. Thank me later.”
I’m not sure Peter Oh has high hopes for this evening’s footballing fare judging from this email.
He says: “Given the various endearing nicknames that have garlanded these two clubs, could tonight be the Nasty/Dirty/Tricky derby?”
It could be a gnarly one, Peter, I’ll give you that.
20 minutes until kick-off. Where’s your money? Email me your predictions!
Draw for me Clive.
It could well be a tale of two goalkeepers tonight. Dyche has never seemed a great fan of Matz Sels so he’s drafted in Stefan Ortega instead (although Sels is injured for tonight anyway). The former Manchester City man is a very serviceable Premier League keeper with bags of experience.
Leeds too have gone back to experience, in Karl Darlow – a former Forest player of course– with Lucas Perri enduring his own difficulties. The Wales international international is a steady hand on the tiller.
Sean Dyche will know the size of Forest’s task at Elland Road tonight. As a Brian Clough disciple – we’ve all heard his impression – he may well have extra motivation against the club the Forest and Derby legend despised and then managed briefly, and disastrously.
On the current Leeds iteration and tonight’s mission, Dyche said: “It’s another important game. It’s tough going up there, I have been many times, they have steadied the ship because early season there was a lot of noise about the manager [Farke] and ‘Can they or can’t they?’, but they have steadied it down with a lot of good performances.”
A couple of pre-match reads for you with another big Premier League weekend almost upon us.
Here’s what Farke said on the survival equation for his team now:
We need one point average [from 38 games] to stay in this league, so we need 12 points to have this average. This means three wins and three draws, whatever – six positive results from the last 14 games. The last 12 games we’ve played, we had 10 positive results. I would back my players to get six positive results. I want all 14 to be positive, but I’m confident we are capable to win enough to stay in this league.
Both teams have some serious speed on the bench. Daniel James is a welcome returnee for Leeds having been out for a good while with a hamstring injury. Joël Piroe and Wilfried Gnonto also have pace to burn and could give the hosts that extra bit of thrust late in the game. The absence of loan signing Facundo Buonanotte is… a bit strange.
Forest have Dan Ndoye and Omari Hutchinson to introduce onto the wings at some stage, as well as the powerful striker Taiwo Awoniyi who scored on his last outing off the bench at Brentford.
That’s a lot of defenders Leeds have picked tonight. Ampadu is very much a deep-lying midfielder, so it’s six defensive players on the teamsheet from Daniel Farke, with either Gabriel Gudmundsson or James Justin slotting into a back three and the other one joining Jayden Bogle as a wing-back.
No Netz in the Forest starting lineup, as 19-year-old centre-back Zach Abbott gets a first Premier League start instead. He’s made a handful of appearances in the Europa League this season. There were some claims that Callum Hudson-Odoi would be out for this one with a shoulder injury, but he’s been passed fit to start. Ortega makes his debut in goal.
Team news
Leeds: Darlow; Justin, Rodon, Strujik; Bogle, Gruev, Ampadu, Aaronson, Gudmundsson; Okafor, Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Perri, James, Longstaff, Piroe, Nmecha, Bijol, Tanaka, Bornauw, Gnonto.
Nottingham Forest: Ortega; Aina, Milenkovic, Abbott, Morato; Sangaré, Anderson, Gibbs-White; Hudson-Odoi, I.Jesus, Domínguez.
Subs: Gunn, Awoniyi, Ndoye, Lucca, Hutchinson, Yates, Cunha, McAtee, Netz.
Preamble
Leeds United and Nottingham Forest may balk at the suggestion that this is an earlyish relegation six-pointer – both may feel they are clear enough of danger as it stands – but the prospect of heading into the weekend nine points clear of the drop zone, with the pressure firmly on West Ham, is surely enticing. (The Hammers play 19th-placed Burnley tomorrow). These two are currently locked on 26 points after 24 games, with Leeds sitting above Forest only on goals scored. And given Daniel Farke’s side have shown a real taste for these Friday night fixtures at home and the fact Forest have gone unbeaten in the league for a whole month, there really ought to be little separating the sides. Competitive should be the word.
Forest could field their two key January signings – Stefan Ortega is likely to start in goal and Luca Netz looks a like-for-like replacement for the suspended Neco Williams at left-back. Leeds will be without the injured Anton Stach, though it remains to be seen whether Farke will prefer a back three, or go to 4-3-3 (or something similar) tonight. That 4-0 home shellacking by Arsenal last week will still be stinging for a few Leeds fans.
It all gets under way at 8pm GMT, with the official team news to follow very shortly. Strap yourself in for a tussle between two of English football’s heavyweights under the Elland Road lights.
