Leeds United begin their Championship campaign with a home clash against Cardiff City. The hosts are one of the early favourites to make a quick return to the topflight and having retained much of their key players, should be too strong for the Welsh side.
Leeds United returned to the Championship after spending just three seasons in the topflight. They come into the new campaign targeting a swift return to the Premier League and will be confident of achieving their goal having held on to their key players in the transfer market.
Preseason was a bit erratic for Leeds United as they began with two straight defeats. However, they eventually found their rhythm and head into the season opener with back-to-back wins, beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 before claiming a 1-0 victory at Scottish side Hearts in their final warm-up fixture.
Home form is likely to play pivotal to Leeds United’s quest for promotion and they will be keen to begin with a positive result in front of their fans. Manager Daniel Farke will also be looking to channel the defensive displays in their final two preseason outings having kept clean sheets in both fixtures.
Cardiff City are also looking to put last season’s disappointing campaign behind them after barely escaping the drop. Having struggled for much of the campaign, they finished 21st on the standings, just five points above the bottom three.
While Cardiff City are targeting a much improved campaign this term, their preseason showings have not inspired much confidence. Erol Bulut’s men have lost four straight friendly matches, failing to score a single goal in the last three.
Cardiff City’s poor preseason is a continuation of their showings towards the end last season. They lost their last two Championship matches, suffering a 3-0 defeat at Burnley in their final fixture of the season.
How the bookies view it
The bookies have installed Leeds United as overwhelming favourites with a home win priced at 2/5 by William Hill. A victory for Cardiff City is valued at 15/2 with bet365 while a draw is set at odds of 4/1 by 10bet.
Head to head
Cardiff City have an 18-7 advantage with nine draws from 34 previous matches against Leeds United. However, Leeds ran out 5-2 winner when both teams met in the FA Cup back in January with Patrick Bamford netting a brace.
Players to watch
Leeds United’s struggles last season could be attributed to Patrick Bamford’s constant injury problems as the striker never really put together a run of games. They will be hoping he can stay fit this term and having netted a brace in that FA Cup win in January, could be backed to find the net on Sunday at 6/4 with William Hill.
The hosts showed some defensive solidity in the final weeks of preseason, keeping clean sheets in their final two matches. They will be hoping to carry that inti the new campaign and with the likes of Pascal Struijk, Luke Ayling and Ethan Ampadu at the back, another clean sheet could be on the cards at 21/20 with BoyleSports.
Anything else catch the eye?
Leeds United ended preseason with a win to nil in their final two matches and can be set for a repeat at 11/8 by BetVictor. Given the quality in their attacks, they are likely to score multiple goals and could be tipped in the -1 handicap market at 11/10 with Coral.
The hosts scored in both halves in that FA Cup win back in January and Sunday’s clash can be tipped to follow a similar pattern at 6/5 with bet365.
This England Championship match between Leeds United and Cardiff City will be played on Aug 6, 2023 and kick off at 14:30. Check below for our tipsters best Leeds United vs Cardiff City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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