By Ian Waterhouse
Leeds travel to the iPro stadium on Saturday to face a Derby County side in disarray following the suspension then departure of head coach Nigel Pearson.
Pearson (credited with guiding Leicester City back to the Premier League) left the club by mutual consent following his suspension after a ‘heated exchange’ with County owner Mel Morris.
Chris Powell has been placed in temporary charge and has so far overseen a 2-0 away win at Cardiff and a 1-1 draw away at Reading to dramatically improve the club’s fortunes after losing 2-1 in their last home outing against a poor Blackburn side in Pearson’s last match in charge.
In contrast, things have been rather settled at Elland Road after 5 wins from the last 6 matches. Garry Monk’s young side are starting to settle in together and for once Massimo Cellino’s relative patience looks like paying off.
Leeds go into the match after a 2-1 home win over Barnsley and will fancy their chances over Derby who currently 20th in the table, although the whites will be without head coach Garry Monk, who has been banished to the stands following his sending off against Bristol City.
Chris Wood has found his scoring boots this season after finding the back of the net 7 times so far this campaign. Coupled with Pontus Jansson’s impressive display in defence means Leeds finally have a solid spine of a squad capable of beating anyone on their day.
Head to Head
Recent form would make Leeds favourites. The Whites took 4 points from Derby last season as Leeds collected a 2-1 away win in the league before the return match at Elland Road played out a 2-2 draw.
However, that said, Derby did go from December 2006 to October 2013 winning every game between the two. That comprised a remarkable 10 matches with all but one played in the Championship.
Prediction
Predictably the Championship is unpredictable (look at Huddersfield Town at the top of the table for example). Powell has reinvigorated Derby and they look a threat especially with home advantage.
But Leeds are playing well and look more confident than they have been in years. You sense a draw would not be a terrible result for either side and more than likely, but my heart says Leeds will edge a tight affair 2-1.