Whites vs Hammers
Returning to the Premier League after 16 years of absence, Leeds United made a pretty strong impression in the early part of the season thanks to its hard play. They started the season by scoring 3 goals against defending champions Liverpool, then pouring 4 goals against Fulham, beating Sheffield United and culminating in a draw with Man City. Leeds' performances made a strong impression on many fans, especially the fans who loved the teams of Alan Smith, Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell.
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However, the sorcerer Marcelo Bielsa's army lately has declined rapidly, especially in the attacking front. The club only lost the first 2 Premier League games this season to score 7 goals, the last 5 Premier League games had only 4 shots. When a team is scoring like a storm, all of a sudden, the majority of fans will pay attention to the form of the midfielder.
However, Leeds' assassin Patrick Bamford is still in a pretty high form. He has scored eight goals in 11 Premier League games this season, averaging 118 minutes per goal, much higher than last season's 216 minutes per goal performance at the Championship. Bamford's goal finishing rate is 18.6%, still higher than the 11.2% rate last season. So why, even though the striker is still in good shape, Leeds has scored less?
Leeds is having trouble with midfield. Mateusz Klich, the player who has three assists for Bamford to score in the Premier League this season, has only had 1 assist in the last 5 games. Another source of the ball for Bamford is midfielder Jack Harrison who has only 1 assist in the last 4 games.
When public goods are ineffective, self-correct mistakes in the defense, especially when Leeds chooses a rather adventurous kick. With a total of 20 goals lost since the beginning of the season, Leeds is the club that owns the third worst line of the tournament (just over West Brom, 23 goals and Fulham, 21). Things will get worse after defender Robin Koch suffered a serious knee injury and had to take a long break.
Meeting a fragile home team like Leeds will be a good opportunity for West Ham to earn points away from home, which they have done quite well recently. West Ham beat Leicester 3-0 at King Power, drew Tottenham 3-3 in London, forcing Liverpool to chase the score at Anfield.
West Ham has scored the first goal in the last 6 Premier League matches. If the score continues against Leeds, the army led by David Moyes will have for the first time in history to open the score in seven consecutive Premier League matches. This is completely a milestone that West Ham can do. For Leeds, they never lost a Premier League match on Friday. However, this record is difficult to preserve.
