Leeds United fans on run warning, keeper change, Plymouth rematch and realistic Whites finish

Here is what our YEP Jury have had to say on Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off at Home Park including a unanimous verdict on the predictions front but a warning about what happens when you least expect it, a keeper tweak and a realistic Whites finish.

NEIL GREWER

Leeds travel to Plymouth full of confidence following recent results and performances and are seemingly able to plug any gap which appears in the first team with equally capable deputies. In the recent FA Cup game at Home Park, Leeds were easily the better team and should be again tomorrow although nothing should be taken for granted and good runs tend to end when you least expect it.

I have noticed a few tactical tweaks since the start of the year which seem beneficial. Firstly, Illan Meslier appears to be taking fewer risks with his passing around the back four (measured by my reduced heart rate) and secondly we are now more likely to try a long ball from defence or midfield over the top of the opposition to utilise our speedy players.

In short, we seem less predictable. So whatever team is picked (and I expect minimal changes) will be strong enough to win this game although not by recent winning margins. Second place is now realistic, and we are really well prepared and absolutely capable of achieving this goal, but it will not be easy.

Prediction: Plymouth Argyle 1 Leeds United 3.

ANDY RHODES

With Plymouth away comes the last of Leeds’ originally scheduled long-haul away games. An FA Cup trip to Chelsea awaits at the end of the month but, until then, the league is the priority. United put in a convincing performance across the 120 minutes in the Cup replay at Home Park earlier in February, but the regulation 90 minutes were not particularly straightforward.

Had United been more ruthless in front of goal they could have wrapped things up earlier but, since extra time in that game, the goals have been flowing. Crysencio Summerville has been the architect of the 10 goals scored since extra time kicked off last week and Daniel Farke will be hopeful of another man-of-the-match performance here.

The goals are beginning to be shared around Farke’s forward line more consistently, with Willy Gnonto and Joel Piroe getting in on the act at Swansea. With Dan James returning to fitness too, the squad is strengthening at just the right time. If Leeds can come home from another long away trip with another three points, it will set them up nicely for the awaiting showdown with Leicester City.

Prediction: Plymouth Argyle 1 Leeds United 3.

DAVID WATKINS

On Tuesday night, Leeds brushed aside Swansea, much as we’d swatted away Birmingham, Cardiff, and Rotherham in recent weeks, all teams that sit well down the Championship table for a reason; they are all poor sides.

We struggled initially to show a similar superiority against Plymouth in the recent FA Cup replay but, once we had our big guns on the pitch, they too were brushed aside in extra time. The way football works, we all know there will be bumps in the road ahead, there always are.

But, the way we are playing, steamrollering our way to three points every week since the turn of the year, it would be folly to predict anything but another convincing Leeds win against the Pilgrims. On Wednesday night, Plymouth had a tough game against Coventry, a game Coventry largely bossed, although they only grabbed a point with a last-minute equaliser. Coventry are no mugs of course.