Jermaine Beckford predicts Leeds to narrowly beat Crystal Palace

Add as preferred source on Google

Jermaine Beckford has told the Doing A Leeds podcast that he believes Leeds United will beat Crystal Palace on Saturday at Selhurst Park, but expects Leeds to face a tricky test and only earn a narrow win.

Both Leeds and Palace sit on 10 points from their first seven Premier League matches – with both sides winning three, losing three and drawing once. The Whites come into the game having suffered a 4-1 defeat to Leicester City.

Leeds go into the match without star players Rodrigo and Kalvin Phillips, while Raphinha could be included but Marcelo Bielsa says his side will make a decision on Friday. Diego Llorente will also miss out, as he awaits his debut.

Former Leeds captain Beckford has claimed that Leeds must look to stop Palace’s threats such as Wilfried Zaha and Eberechi Eze – and if they do that, they could secure a narrow three points in a 1-0 or 2-1 win.

“I don’t know if they’ll have enough to contain us, as Leicester did,” Beckford said. “Everyone knows about the threat of Wilfried Zaha and [Eberechi] Eze – they are very clever players.We’ve seen Zaha lose his mind, he gets frustrated.

“As long as we stop the ball at source, if we stop the ball going into these guys, their threats. I’m not saying it is going to be easy, I think there will be a goal in it, two if we are lucky. I think it will be 1-0, or 2-1.”

TBR’s view – What do Leeds need to do differently?

The loss to Leicester flattered the Foxes. Patrick Bamford has got to score one of his two first-half chances, while the Whites certainly made more mistakes than they do normally. Liam Cooper came back in and his return did disrupt things slightly.

Palace will play like Leicester did – on the counter. However, they lack the midfield creativity that Leicester boasted and Leeds will have more chances to score goals, and cutting out the mistakes, Leeds can secure a fourth win of the season.