Football – England – Championship
Tuesday 1st January 2013 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Leeds United take on Bolton Wanderers at Elland Road on New Years Day attempting to avoid a third successive league defeat to give their fans something to cheer about over the busy holiday schedule.
Leeds have suffered back-to-back defeats recently against Nottingham Forest 2-4 away on Boxing Day and 0-2 at Hull City at the weekend. However, both of these matches were obviously away from home and they now return to their familiar Elland Road to host visitors Bolton and go for a fifth successive home win in the Championship.
Leeds’ home record stands at a pretty good 7-2-3 18/17 and their last four victories on home soil were over Crystal Palace 2-1, Leicester City 1-0, Ipswich Town 2-0 and Middlesbrough 2-1 which is a pretty good list of scalps and three of these clubs are represented in the top six currently.
Leeds manager Neil Warnock will be demanding that they take all three points today and with the likes of Becchio (14 goals, 4 assists), Ross McCormack, Luke Varney and the return of South African striker Davide Somma, they are definitely worth a strong chance here.
Bolton sit just five places and three points behind their hosts currently in what has been so far, a very disappointing campaign for them. However, such is the nature of this division that a run of three or four wins on the bounce, and they could find themselves competing for a play-off place yet.
Inconsistency has been Bolton’s downfall so far this season and their last six matches tells it’s own story; 1-2 home loss to Ipswich Town, a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield Town, a 2-0 home win over Charlton Athletic, back-to-back defeats against Peterborough United & Sheffield Wednesday, and then a 3-1 home win over Birmingham City at the weekend.
However, Bolton’s away form has been worse than inconsistent as their record testifies; 2-4-6 19/25, with only Lancashire rivals Burnley (26) shipping more goals than them on their travels so far. This poor away form has probably something to do with the fact that they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their twelve away matches so far, and Leeds usually score at home (Leeds have failed to score just once in their last 14 home matches).
The last two statistics are quite damning and I’ll back Leeds with the round ball at still a very attractive price as their home form has been good lately, racking up four wins on the trot in their last four at home. Could be a 2-1 win for Leeds today.
Pick: Leeds United AH0 @ 1.95 Pinnacle
