Leeds v Sheffield Wednesday: Whites backed to win Yorkshire derby | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Leeds have dominated the data at Elland Road

Leeds look to cement their position at the top of the Championship when Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday arrive on Sunday. Betfair writer Mark O'Haire is backing the Whites to take top honours at Elland Road.

Leeds v Sheffield WednesdaySunday January 19, 12:00Live on Sky Sports

Leeds squeeze past Harrogate

A much-changed Leeds side edged past League Two underdogs Harrogate to reach the FA Cup fourth round last weekend. Daniel Farke made eight changes for the Yorkshire derby and after a goalless first-half, the home side's frustrations were finally quelled when the returning Largie Ramazani's header met the net in the 59th minute for the only goal.

Speaking post-match, Farke praised his players for their professionalism. He said: "It's never easy. For them, it's the game of the season or - for some of them - perhaps even the game of their lives. For us, it was important to use this game to rotate a bit, rest a few players, to give some minutes away and so I'm very pleased we have progressed through."

Karl Darlow kept a clean sheet between the sticks to push pressure on out-of-form Illan Meslier's status as Leeds' number one, whilst Pascal Struijk, Junior Firpo and Illia Gruev continued their recoveries from injuries with minutes. Joe Rodon, Dan James, and Joel Piroe are all expected to be recalled here, though there are doubts over Max Wober's fitness.

Wednesday exit FA Cup on penalties

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl praised his team's "strong performance" despite seeing the Owls exit the FA Cup at the third round stage last weekend following defeat to fellow Championship side Coventry on penalties. Anthony Musaba levelled for Wednesday three minutes into stoppage-time before the Sky Blues won the contest on spot-kicks.

Rohl said: "It's hard to take as a team to lose this way. It was a strong performance. We had good opportunities. We were always in the game. But we could not find the final pass. We have real belief in the squad. We never give up. We go for 120 minutes. We wanted to win. But set-pieces have cost us a lot of games and it has happened again to us here."

Rohl made four changes to his team for the cup contest and is looking to strengthen this month following a number of defensive injuries. Wednesday have welcomed both Olaf Kobacki and Michael Ihiekwe back to the field, though Marvin Johnson missed out again and Dominic Iorfa has now been ruled out for two months with Akin Famewo also out of action.

Owls' tend to toil against elite opposition

Leeds have enjoyed the upper-hand in recent meetings between the rivals, posting W3-D3-L1 in head-to-head encounters since 2018/19 - that includes the Whites winning the last two renewals, each of which came at Hillsborough. However, Leeds have only managed three victories in their past 10 Elland Road outings against the Owls (W3-D4-L3).

Leeds 1.36 have built their promotion campaign upon a rock-solid home record this term (W10-D3-L1). Daniel Farke's outfit have leaked just seven goals in that 14-game sample and dominate all of the major performance data metrics, such as boasting a formidable 79% Expected Goals (xG) ratio at Elland Road, giving up just 0.49 xG per-game as hosts.

Sheffield Wednesday 9.00 have improved after a slow start to take up a top-10 position. The Owls are W5-D4-L2 in their last 11 league matches but have done most of their best work against teams in 16th and below - Wednesday are W2-D6-L8 against top-15 sides and have managed W0-D2-L4 on their travels against the same standard of opposition thus far.

Whites backed to win to nil

Wednesday have been blanked in four of their six away trips to top-15 teams, and the Owls have failed to score in seven of 11 overall fixtures against top-half teams, including the reverse encounter against Leeds. Danny Rohl's charges are averaging only 0.98 non-penalty Expected Goals (npxG) on their travels, generating just 16 Big Chances in 12 away days.

With Wednesday not completely convincing in the final-third, and the visitors leaking multiple goals in each of their last four Championship dates, it's easy to see why Leeds are such strong favourites. But we can boost that 1.36 price to a much more palatable 11/10 by backing Leeds to win to nil - 12 of their 15 triumphs have arrived alongside a clean sheet.

The Whites have allowed just 10 Big Chances in their 13 Elland Road outings, giving up an average of just eight touches in the box and only 3.54 shots per-game from inside the penalty area. Leeds have won the xG battle in 12 of those 13 fixtures and a similar standard of performance should give us a good run for our money on Sunday.

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Back Leeds to win to nil @ 11/10