Simon Grayson expecting first love Leeds United to edge battle of clubs close to his heart

One of them led Grayson to five appearances at Wembley during a memorable five-year playing career.

Leicester City will always be a club Grayson is hugely fond of.

Leeds United, though, is something rather different – the club he supports, the club the Yorkshireman began his career with, the club the former manager steered out of League One

Deep down, it’s a Whites win that Ripon-born Grayson is yearning for in Monday night’s Premier League clash, just don’t tell Leicester TV who Grayson is covering the game for.

Yet whatever the outcome, Grayson is expecting a cracker and is backing Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites to edge a victory in a game he believes is arguably United’s toughest Premier League clash so far.

That might seem improbable given that Leeds have already played defending champions Liverpool and title favourites Manchester City.

Yet Grayson can envisage Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers taking a cautious approach against Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites in looking to then hit the hosts on the counter through Jamie Vardy.

A similar approach worked a treat in last weekend’s 1-0 triumph at Arsenal that sent Leicester fourth and just one point off top spot.

Having spent five fine years with Leicester between 1992 and 1997, Grayson always hopes to see the Foxes thrive having enjoyed fine success with the club himself in the 1990s, winning the League Cup in 1997.

Two and a half decades on, Leicester have taken their success to a whole new level and Grayson knows Leeds are in for a serious test.

Yet the man who began his career as a youngster with Leeds and later managed the side for four years expects the Whites to just about have the answers to a contest for which Grayson’s sentiments and emotions are at least partly torn.

“It’s two clubs that are very close to my heart – in terms of supporting and managing obviously with Leeds,” Grayson told the YEP.

“But in my playing days the best spell I had in my career was at Leicester.

"It broke my heart to leave Leeds to go to Leicester but I enjoyed a fantastic six years there, from three consecutive Championship play-off finals to a relegation in the Premier League to another play-off final and then in the next year we won the League Cup.

“In that period of time I had two player-of-the-year awards and lifted a trophy at Wembley in the play-off final as captain so it was a great spell in the prime of my career playing wise.

"We were at Wembley five times in six years and that doesn’t happen that often and it was an unbelievable experience and a great period of time.

"I don’t think there will be too many clubs that have had five visits to Wembley in such a short space of time.”

Asked then, given his love for Leeds, what would be his ideal score when the two sides face off on Monday night, the 50-year-old laughed: “Somebody asked me this the other day and I said if I am doing it for Leicester TV I’ll go 2-1 Leicester but if it’s for Leeds TV I’ll go 2-1 Leeds.

“Because I am a supporter I would probably say that I want Leeds to win. I’ll be looking for a Leeds result but ultimately after Monday night’s game I want Leicester to win every game that I see them involved in.

“I think it will be a good game to be fair and I think Leicester will be defensively strong as they proved at Arsenal.

“I’ve seen two contrasting styles from Leicester of late and it didn’t work for them when they played Aston Villa and they had to take the game to them.

“They didn’t play as well as they could do and they didn’t have Vardy in the team.

“They just lacked a little bit of spark and creativity.

“Then on the back of that they had a change of system and personal at Arsenal and sat deep and then brought Vardy on who was coming back from injury and won the game 1-0.

“I think Brendan is very flexible in his approach to games.

“I would think that they would probably try and sit quite deep and nullify any space for Leeds to play in because Leeds love the open space, passing it around and knocking it forward and getting bodies forward.

“And I would think they would look to hit them on the counter attack with Vardy who I think will be fully fit for Monday night and that might be the space and the direction that Leicester go in.”

Vardy came through 70 minutes upon his first start since the beginning of the month in Thursday’s Europa League clash in Greece against AEK Athens and Grayson admits the 33-year-old striker really makes the Foxes tick.

“When he doesn’t play they don’t look the same team because of his pace and his clinicalness,” said Grayson.

“Iheanacho came in to replace him and again a couple of weeks ago hasn’t got the same sort of quality as Jamie Vardy but it takes some doing to replace someone who is one of the best strikers in the Premier League.

“Harvey Barnes is a young winger who is very direct and likes to run at people and Tielemans in midfield looks a good creative player and I think it will depend on the system that they play as well and the personnel.

“But I think when you look at Leicester without Vardy they haven’t got probably the same threat that they have as when he is in the team.”

With that looking like the case – and given the potential of the tactical battle – Grayson admits the game could be seen as United’s toughest test yet, even in spite of sixth-placed Leeds having already taken on defending champions Liverpool and title favourites Manchester City.

“I think you look at the big teams that they have played so far in Liverpool and Man City are very open and they were expected to win the game,” Grayson explained.

“And you have seen in other games that they have been tighter because the emphasis has been more on Leeds to go and break them down rather than it being like a basketball match end to end, It just puts a different emphasis on Leeds, how are they going to break down the opposition.

“Look at Aston Villa last week, they tried to take the game to Leeds and certainly felt the full force of what Leeds can do in an open match.

“When it’s a little bit tighter and there aren’t those open space to go and play in, that’s when Leeds are a little bit vulnerable but I don’t think Marcelo will change his philosophy by any stretch of the imagination.”

Pushed for a prediction, Grayson pondered: “I think it will be a close game.

“I think Leeds will probably just nick it but it’s going to be tight.

“Leicester have got some good experienced players so Leeds know they will have their work cut out with Leicester.

“But there will be high confidence levels with Patrick Bamford and people like that who are playing really well at the moment.

“You can just see them getting on the end of something.”

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Thank you Laura Collins