Dominic Matteo believes Leeds United can hurt Crystal Palace defensively when the two sides go head-to-head at Selhurst Park. The Whites return after a 16-day from Premier League action with a vital trip to South London, where they will be looking to stretch their unbeaten run to five matches.
Opponents Palace, meanwhile, enter the game on the back of three defeats in a row in all competitions, including last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. They will be looking to ensure their season does not end on a whimper with their Premier League status all but secured.
But Leeds have a more pressing need for three points given their situation at the bottom of the table and speaking in the club’s pre-match show, former Whites defender Matteo thinks they have the players on the counter-attack capable of hurting Palace at the back.
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He said: “Yeah, most definitely. Start on the front foot, you know it’s never going to be easy at Palace. I tell you one thing about Palace is the atmosphere is electric, it’s one of the best noises apart from Elland Road.
“It’s noisy, they’re up for it and under Patrick Vieira, he’s installed that bit of confidence into them. They want to get a bit more solidarity into their team as well, they’ve got lots of flair players, but defensively we can get at them with the pace we’ve got going forward.
“I think it’s a winnable game but it won’t be easy and like you say, both sets of fans are going to enjoy that even though it’s on a Monday. It’s never handy for them on a Monday but there’ll be there as usual making a lot of noise and I think it’ll be a great, tight game.”
