Leeds vs Wolves prediction

Anthony Dabbundo gives his detailed thoughts, plus his top pick, for Saturday's Premier League match between Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves don’t do a ton of contesting the midfield and set up in a pretty direct countering profile. Goalkeeper Jose Sá is coming off one of the best seasons of shot-stopping in league history, but that’s unlikely to continue. After February, Wolves were 18th in xG for and 19th in xGDiff overall. Leeds had more injuries than any team in the EPL last season and was stuck playing academy players and shortened benches. The Peacocks weren’t as good from two seasons back when they finished with a -5.4 xG difference. Now with Raúl Jiménez out injured, there’s a lot of questions as to where the attack and goals will come for manager Bruno Lage’s side.

Leeds United begin their Premier League campaign with a clash against Wolves, with both sides seeking a winning start.

However, the striker has regained fitness in time for the new season and will be a key man for Jesse Marsch’s side. The Midlands side were not necessarily fluid in the final third last season and without the arrival of new attackers, that trend may continue. The Leeds frontman endured a difficult season last time out due to long spells out with injury. Lage could replace Daniel Podence with Hwang Hee-Chan in the absence of Jimenez. There could be a start for Morgan Gibbs-White, who is at the centre of transfer speculation linking him to Nottingham Forest. Nelson Semedo, Chiquinho and Raul Jimenez are certainly out of action, with the latter facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Wolves’ summer arrival Nathan Collins will feature from the start, probably on the right side of the back three. Meanwhile, Wolves will be looking for inspiration after their dire run of form in the latter part of last season. Illan Meslier will be the starting goalkeeper, while the defence may look a bit unconventional. Rodrigo will slot in as the attacking midfielder behind star striker Patrick Bamford who is fit to start. Jesse Marsch ensured his starting eleven against Cagliari played the full 90 minutes, which could be an indication of his opening day lineup. They won three of their five friendlies, with the latest one a 6-2 triumph over Cagliari last weekend.

Yorkshire Evening Post's Leeds United fan jury has given their verdicts.

A fit Patrick Bamford is like a new signing and, if the mercurial Rodrigo can inject some consistency into his game, then we will all be much happier. Things ended on a high but it’s easy to remember the crushing defeats that were the prelude to Marcelo Bielsa’s departure. The plan came together on Sunday; for the first time we played as a team with a good understanding of each other’s movement and our finishing was sharp. The acid test comes against Wolves. A good performance and result and we’ll be eyeing mid-table at least… Losing Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha was a blow but no surprise after last season’s scrap to stay up but both deserve to be in a team that regularly challenges for trophies. If that is the case, it will mean debuts for Aaronson, Kristensen, Roca and Adams.

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Leeds v Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday. When to bet. By 3pm Saturday. Best bet. Under 2.5 goals

Free Bets are paid as bet credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Minimum odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. The problem for Leeds, however, is that Wolves are extremely gritty and appear to have mastered the art of grinding out results, highlighted by the fact that they conceded only 43 goals last term.

Leeds play host to Wolves at Elland Road on Saturday for their opening game of the 2022/23 Premier League season.

Finding the net was undoubtedly one of Wolves’ striking weaknesses last term. “Wolves are a funny team – you never know what you’re going to get,” Merson wrote. Leeds collected four points from Wolves last season – coming from two goals behind to win 3-2 at Molineux in their previous outing.