'The entertaining bit' - West Ham defender on 'unpredictable' Leeds United ahead of his likely Raphinha battle

Left back Cresswell played the full duration of December's contest against the Whites at Elland Road in which set piece headers from Tomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna gave the Hammers a 2-1 victory.

The goals turned the game on its head after Mateusz Klich had put Leeds ahead with a retaken penalty after his initial spot kick was saved.

Cresswell was facing new Whites recruit Raphinha down the same flank and now seems likely to face another battle against United's Brazilian star who has already amassed five goals and five assists.

Cresswell says Bielsa's Leeds side are unpredictable but the 31-year-old says no team in the division works harder ahead of a clash that will pit sixth against 11th.

"They’re so unpredictable, you don’t know what you’re going to get with Leeds and that’s arguably the entertaining bit that everyone has been speaking about,” Cresswell told www.whufc.com.

“Certainly, in terms of physical output, they really work hard.

"They’re the hardest working team in the Premier League in terms of running stats but if we play our game, we know what we’re good at and we can certainly give them a good game."

Reflecting on December's 2-1 victory at Elland Road, Cresswell also highlighted the impact of Said Benrahma.

"We went to Elland Road just before Christmas and they were doing well at the time and we beat them,” said Cresswell.

“It was one of Saïd’s first games and I was really impressed with him and the way he kept finding space.

"They go 1v1 all over the pitch and that leaves space and when the ball breaks down, the counter-attack was on and Saïd was picking up some fantastic positions and that really helped us as a team going forward and that really helped our chances.

“We had a terrible start, conceding a penalty inside two minutes.

"Łukasz saved it, then they had it retaken because he was two millimetres off his line and scored, so it was a really tough test for us that night and we did well to come out on top.”

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/leeds-uniteds-london-record-in-full-the-capital-curse-the-whites-will-look-to-break-at-west-ham-3157230

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/yorkshire-evening-post-launch-leeds-united-only-digital-subscription-ahead-premier-league-campaign-2967964

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Thank you Laura Collins