YEP Jury: How many changes is reasonable for Leeds United to make in FA Cup clash at West Ham United?
and live on Freeview channel 276
This Sunday’s clash takes place in the third round of the FA Cup, with both sides expected to make a number of changes from the teams they fielded in their most recent top-flight encounters.
Our regular panel of Leeds United fans give their view on what will take place. Have a scroll through and see if you agree or not.
ANDREW DALTON
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdFollowing a huge victory over Burnley at Elland Road last time out, attention quickly turns to one of the greatest days in the English calendar as Leeds make their first trip in consecutive weekends to face West Ham United, firstly in the FA Cup third round.
Marcelo Bielsa has yet to win an FA Cup tie and I am hoping that this statistic can change on Sunday lunchtime.
It will be interesting to see what the line up is as, in previous seasons, changes have been made in England’s premier cup competition.
We could possibly see the likes of Lewis Bate make his debut for the club and super sub Joe Gelhardt will be pushing for a start following his impressive cameo against the Clarets.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdOthers that may feature are the likes of Cody Drameh and Sam Greenwood and maybe the return of Patrick Bamford.
With no replays in the third and fourth rounds I am predicting a classic cup tie with Leeds to go through on penalties!
Prediction: West Ham 2 Leeds United 2 (Leeds through on pens).
DAVID WATKINS
Two trips to West Ham in two weeks and we all know which one is the more important – not the FA Cup game this weekend!
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIt is a long time though since we had the excitement of a cup run and with a full week between this game and the last and another week until the league game, surely this is as good a time as any to play our strongest available XI.
If nothing else it would be a useful rehearsal for that all-important league encounter on the 16th.
West Ham seem to have regained their form of earlier this season with two decent away wins at Watford and Crystal Palace in their last two outings but they had lost their way before that with consecutive defeats to Southampton, Spurs and Arsenal.
Make no mistake, if we are at our best, something like we saw for long spells against Burnley, then a win against another team in claret and blue is well within our reach and wouldn’t that give us some momentum to take into the Premier League game?
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdPrediction: West Ham United 0 Leeds United 0 (Leeds win on pens).
ANDY RHODES
After such a big win in the league last week, attention now turns to the FA Cup and a third round tie that could go either way depending on the teams each manager chooses to field.
In past cup games, Marcelo Bielsa has fielded a mixture of youth and experience, but under his stewardship Leeds have never progressed beyond the third round.
You would expect from a coach with such a fondness for the game that an FA Cup run will be on his bucket list.
Advertisement
Hide Ad