Saturday 1st May 15:00 | Amex Stadium
Leeds travel down to the South Coast this weekend, keen to take revenge on a Brighton team fighting to avoid relegation. When the teams last met in January, the two sides were separated by a rare Neal Maupay tap in. Leeds will be keen to make amends and stretch their unbeaten run to seven games, cementing their top half aspirations in the process.
Having drawn against Liverpool and Manchester Utd, and beaten Manchester City at the Etihad, Marcelo Bielsa is unlikely to make any changes to his starting lineup unless Raphinha is fit to replace Costa on the right wing. Though it sounds like the Brazillian is still a few weeks away from recovering from the assault inflicted by Fernandinho. Liam Cooper serves his third of a three match ban following his sending off against Manchester City earlier this month with Bielsa likely to persist with Llorente and Struijk in the centre of defence. Bielsa said Rodrigo was healthy during his Thursday press-conference, though he remains a doubt having not trained all week.
After losing to basement club Sheffield Utd at the weekend, Seagulls Manager Graham Potter is conscious that his team are not yet safe from relegation although seven points clear of the Cottagers. Speaking after the Saturdays loss, Potter said...
It doesn’t feel comfortable to me because we need more points, it’s as simple as that. And we want to try to get more points. If we had won (at Sheffield United) then of course we look like accumulating quite a decent total, but now we just focus on Saturday.“It’s not enough because there’s a lot of points to play for. We have to just focus on one game at a time.
Every opponent is fighting for something. We are at that stage of the season where everyone is fighting for something, even if it is pride like Sheffield United. “I think all the games we have to play we can be competitive in, and we have proved that, and we have got a chance to get points in all of those games – but equally we could lose.
Ben White is back after serving a suspension against Sheffield United and returns to Elland Road for the first time since rejoining his parent club, and is expected to form a three man central defence to keep the Whites at bay! Adam Lallana is a slight doubt due to a calf problem, but the experienced midfielder is expected to recover in time to start, providing that he trains on Friday. Percy Tau is also back in contention for the Potters, but Solly March and Tariq Lamptey are still unavailable for selection through injury. There should also be starts for Neal Maupay and Danny Welbeck.
...And Raphinha just itching to get back is a nice bonus
