Leeds v Watford – Pick: Leeds – 16 April 2011

Leeds United will be looking to extend their impressive unbeaten home run to fourteen matches with the visit of Watford on Saturday afternoon at Elland Road.

Leeds have been extremely strong at home all season and what has impressed me is their staying power when many would have written them off after Christmas, failing to keep up with the pace of the Championship.

Not so – a home record that stands at 10-6-4 44/32, and are the highest home goalscorers in the division, means that they can cement their play-off position with a win today over the visitors.

In terms of firepower they’ve hardly looked back following the departure of Jermaine Beckford to Everton; striker Luciano Becchio (18 goals, 9 assists), Max Gradel (18 goals, 5 assists), Jonathan Howson (10 goals, 7 assists) and Robert Snodgrass (6 goals, 6 assists) have carried on from last season proving they can create goals as well as score them.

Watford will still be entertaining slight hopes of making the play-offs but will need an instant turnaround in their away form if this is to be the case; just one win on the road in their last eight which was a 3-0 win at Ipswich Town, but apart from that they’ve quite rightly dropped out of the play-off reckoning with their dismal away displays.

The Hornets’ away record stands at 7-5-8 33/30, so you can see scoring goals is not a problem (only Reading with 34 have scored more away goals), but it’s their defence that continues to ship goals at the back; they’ve kept just 5 clean sheets in 20 matches, whilst conceding 2 goals or more on eight occasions.

The Verdict: Leeds will be looking to get back to winning ways following three straight away defeats and with a Watford side containing a shaky defence, I’m backing them to do just that – Leeds to win 2-1.

Main Pick: Leeds United @ 1.80 with Pinnacle looks a good play