Daniel Farke’s team selection against Valencia last weekend is a good indicator as to how he will line-up his Leeds United side for today’s clash with Portsmouth.
The Whites kick off their new Championship campaign against last season’s League One champions and will be looking for a much better start to the season, in comparison to 12 months ago.
The starting XI will have a slightly different look to the one that faced Southampton in the play-off final just over two months ago, amid exits for Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray and Glen Kamara.
Leeds have brought in four new signings to replace them, all be it one of those was bringing Joe Rodon back to the club on a permanent basis.
Here is our predicted XI for the match at Elland Road.
Goalkeeper
Illan Meslier is one of two newly appointed vice-captains this season and is set for another year as Leeds’ number one.
Defence
The first of two full debuts is set to come in defence, with Jayden Bogle making his first competitive start for Leeds since joining from Sheffield United.
Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk look set to start at centre-back for the first time since Boxing Day, with the latter now fully over the injury that kept him out for the last five months of the season.
Leeds remain in the market for some extra competition at left-back but Junior Firpo has that position on lock for now and makes up the rest of the back four.
Midfield
With Leeds likely to see much of the ball against Pompey, Joe Rothwell will be eager for his full debut but last weekend’s midfield pairing in the win over Valencia would suggest otherwise.
Ethan Ampadu has been back in the engine room during pre-season after his stint in defence last term, and is set to be joined by Ilia Gruev, who will be given more license to get forward.
Attack
The front four is arguably where Farke faces his toughest decisions considering the likes of Brenden Aaronson, Joel Piroe and Patrick Bamford were all on the bench against Valencia.
However, after such an impressive attacking display by Leeds, it is highly likely Farke keeps the attack unchanged.
That means Georginio Rutter, Dan James and Wilfried Gnonto will line-up in the trio behind Mateo Joseph, who is finally rewarded with his full league debut.
Predicted XI: Meslier; Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Firpo; Ampadu, Gruev; James, Rutter, Gnonto; Joseph.
