Manchester City vs Leeds prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-05-05 14:00.
Reigning English champions Manchester City returned to the Premier League (PL) summit after just 24 hours away from it, following a straightforward 3-0 win over West Ham on Wednesday. A historic night saw Etihad Stadium hitman Erling Haaland claim his PL record-breaking 35th league goal of a blistering campaign, and with City now victorious in 11 of their last 12 league outings, a fifth title win under Pep Guardiola looks likelier than ever.
A preceding run of 14 straight Etihad victories overall suggests this will be another routine home win for the firm title favourites, especially with City leading āto-nilā at the break and/or winning both halves in each of the four that came before their midweek success.
A 2-0 win over Newcastle in early March is also the last time City failed to net at least three times in a game on their own patch! Clearly, that is terrible news for a relegation-threatened Leeds United side in transition and lamenting the leagueās leakiest defence, provoking fears that they will suffer a landslide similar to December 2021ās Etihad Stadium visit (7-0).
But with new coach Sam Allardyce now at the helm, there is renewed hope that the defensive collapses of recent times will become a mere memory. The man widely known as āBig Samā on the terraces is also seeking personal redemption, having lost his tag of never being relegated as a PL boss back in 2021, when overseeing West Bromās demotion.
However, the fact that Leedsā new firefighting-specialist coach has lost all four prior personal H2Hs against Pep Guardiola strongly suggests that any personal āredemptionā will be delayed at best, especially with all of those losses seeing his team at the time concede 3+ goals.
Players to watch: Now aiming to become the first man in 62 years to break the 40-goal barrier in an English top-flight season, Haaland bagged a second-half brace during Decemberās reverse fixture (W 3-1). In opposition, Leeds winger Jack Harrison once more faces his former side, and for what itās worth against the visitorsā very long odds, he has seen his previous nine goalscoring PL away games with the Whites end in victory.
Hot streak: Each of Leedsā three most recent away defeats have seen them concede 2+ second-half goals.