Welcome back to LSB! Thanks to fixture congestion earlier in the season, we’re in for an unusual treat of back-to-back Premier League fixtures featuring rivals Manchester United and Leeds United! The midweek clash will be held at Old Trafford followed up by Elland Road playing host at the weekend.

These two heated rivals are trending in very different directions. Manchester United has been soaring up the Premier League table, and with a win on Wednesday, the Red Devils will be tied with city rivals Manchester city on points for second place.

Meanwhile, in West Yorkshire there hasn’t been much that’s gone right for the Peacocks. Leeds are currently in free fall, sitting 17th in the PL standings and only separated by Everton and the relegation embattled bottom three by goal difference. In addition, the club is in the midst of a six game winless run in the league and just fired its manager Jesse Marsch after roughly 12 months on the job.

Thus, one would think these matches should be straight forward then. However, as we saw last week, regardless of talent level, one must show up match in and match out or upsets can occur. Remember, Arsenal, Man City, and Newcastle all dropped points last weekend. Add to the unpredictability of the Prem League with the emotions of a derby clash, such as the Roses Rivalry, and all of a sudden the matches are a 50/50 toss up.

Manchester United vs Leeds United
Old Trafford, Manchester, England
Wednesday | 3:00 PM EST | Peacock

LSB Prediction

Due to being on the road, the Peacocks won’t have the added emotion and energy from the home supports to feed off of like Everton had last week in their win over Arsenal. Thus, i fully except Man United to roll over Leads even without Casimero in the middle of the park. Reminder, the Red Devils enforcer is serving a red card suspension.

Manchester United 2 - 0 Leeds United

Leeds United vs Manchester United
Elland Road, Leeds, England
Sunday | 9:00 AM EST | USA

LSB Prediction

Fast forward to the weekend and Leeds will be sitting on a seven match unbeaten run in the Premier League and having to play rivals United once more, a very daunting task for the relegation-destined Peacocks. However, this go-round Leeds will have the backing of it’s supporters. That’ll breathe new life into the team and the American trio of Weston McKinnie, Tyler Adams, and Brendon Aaronson will prove problematic at times for the Red Devils. In the end though, Marcus Rashford’s quality will be too much for the Peacocks as Man U scrape by for the road win.

Leeds United 1 - 2 Manchester United