Ahead of hosting Millwall at Elland Road tonight, Leeds United are under pressure to respond after two disappointing results and return to winning ways. Sheffield United and Burnley dropping points on Tuesday night has limited the damage but the Whites require a win at home to calm down a jittery fanbase. However, they are up against the only side who have already beaten them twice this season and are looking to score another upset result at Elland Road. Leeds will back themselves to turn the tables at home but Millwall have been a bogey team for the Yorkshire giants this season and another poor result tonight could be a huge body blow to their automatic promotion hopes.
Leeds United have dropped five points in their last two league games and their hopes of earning automatic promotion to the Premier League are under threat.
Sheffield United and Burnley dropped points on Tuesday night to ease the pressure on Leeds ahead of tonight’s game against Millwall but the home side still need to respond with a win at Elland Road.
Daniel Farke is aware that a lot of the pressure will be eased if Leeds win their next two games and get into the international break still at the summit of the Championship table.
The pressure is on Leeds at the moment and Millwall could be the worst side to face for them at this stage given the Lions have already beaten them twice this season.
Millwall won 1-0 at the Den earlier in the season before Neil’s side knocked Leeds out of the FA Cup when they beat them at Elland Road earlier last month.
I know Leeds United are upset with us – Millwall boss Alex Neil
Millwall beat a weakened Leeds in the FA Cup last month but Neil bristled at the suggestion, insisting that even he changed half his starting eleven at Elland Road.
The Lions boss is aware Leeds have not enjoyed playing against his side this season and they are coming into the game on the back of beating the Whites twice this season.
He conceded that it is certain Leeds are upset at the way they have lost twice to his team this season and indicated that Millwall have got into their heads.
Neil conceded that it won’t be an easy game as Leeds are one of the best teams in the Championship who are playing to win the league and get promoted.
However, the Millwall boss is ready to back his players to compete against Leeds and give them a tough game despite the difference in quality between the two teams.
“You can look at it two ways”, Neil was quoted as saying by Southwark News.
“We’ve poked the bear, shall we say, and upset them a little bit.
“Leeds are an outstanding team. They’re fighting for the title. They’ve been the best team this season when I’ve watched them. So it’s going to be a really tough match for us.
“But listen, I think we are confident, I’ve said that before, we will go anywhere and we’ll give it a go. Will we play brilliantly every game? No, but what we’ll do is we’ll compete, we’ll be there, we’ll fight and then hopefully if we can play the way I know we can, we’ll give ourselves an opportunity.”
Alex Neil can be certain about one thing, it’s going to be very different from the last two games
Millwall beat Leeds at the Den earlier in the season when the Whites were not travelling well and were regularly dropping points away from home.
Farke made several changes to the side when Millwall came to Elland Road in the FA Cup and while they should have still beaten the Lions, clearly Leeds’ focus was on the league.
However, tonight the Leeds players will be extra motivated to get all three points given their last two results and move back to the top of the table.
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The Whites are in desperate need of a win and Farke will play the best team available to him. There will be no tinkering to the line-up at this stage of the season.
The Millwall players will feel the full force of the Elland Road crowd as they look to motivate their players to get back to winning ways tonight and take back control of the promotion race.
Millwall have reasons to feel confident about causing an upset, but they will find a very different team under very different circumstances tonight.
