Leeds United will be hoping to continue their dominance over local rivals Rotherham United when the two sides meet at the New York Stadium on Friday night.
A fifth successive win over the Millers would see Daniel Farke’s side steal a march on promotion rivals who will have right of reply 24 hours later.
A very good sequence of results catapulted Leeds United into third place going into the international break. The Whites will be seeking to build on that purple patch as they look to stay on the shoulders of Ipswich Town and Leicester City while keeping their noses in front of the likes of Southampton and Preston North End.
A win would see Daniel Farke’s side close the gap to the top two to five points, leaving Leeds United players in the luxurious position of sitting back and watching their rivals’ responses over the weekend.
Contrasting fortunes
While Leeds United are jostling for promotion, Rotherham find themselves in the lower reaches of the Championship table.
It has been a horrendous campaign for Matt Taylor’s men for whom relegation looks a certainty unless they can turn around their fortunes and drag themselves out of the quagmire.
The Millers occupy the final relegation spot having amassed a paltry total of 11 points from a possible 48. To emphasize the wretchedness of their situation, a maximum haul from this fixture won’t even be enough to haul Rotherham out of the relegation zone.
Then again, nothing quite like a local rivalry to get players fired up. Leeds United will therefore be well advised not to underestimate opponents who will no doubt be motivated to play out of their skin, determined to derail the Whites’ march towards the Championship summit.
Head-to-head
Current form and history point to another win for the visitors.
Leeds United emerged victories from four of their last five meetings with Rotherham United.
They will be looking for a fifth straight league win over the hosts, an outcome that would see the Whites consolidate third place while compounding the Millers’ woes.
Team News
Although it’s been two weeks since both sides last played in the Championship, a Friday night kick-off represents a quick turnaround between matches, especially for those players who turned out for their countries in midweek.
Manager Daniel Farke will therefore check on his sizeable contingent of international returnees for any bumps and bruises before finalizing his squad.
Leeds United had as many as 17 players on international duty at all levels during the latest break.
First-team mainstays Daniel James, Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu all played in Wales’s 1-1 draw with Turkey on Tuesday.
Summer acquisitions Ilia Gruev and Glen Kamara featured for Bulgaria in the 2-2 draw with Serbia and Finland’s 2-1 win in San Marino respectively, while Liam Cooper was an unused substitute during Scotland’s 3-3 draw against Norway.
A whole raft of other players, first-team regulars and those on the fringes of the first team, were also called up for international duty.
Archie Gray (England), Georginio Rutter (France), Wilfried Gnonto (Italy), Charlie Allen (Northern Ireland), Charlie Cresswell (England), Jeremiah Mullen (Scotland), Charlie Crew (Wales) and Leo Hjelde (Norway), were all called up to their countries’ Under-21 squads.
As Farke ponders his selection options, the challenge will be to find the right mix of freshness and selection continuity. It will be interesting to see how many of the players returning from international duty will be thrown straight back into the starting line-up.
