Both meetings between Leeds United and Huddersfield Town in the upcoming season have been brought forward to lunchtime kick-offs on police advice, it has been confirmed.
The two sides are not currently scheduled to meet until the Terriers visit Elland Road on Saturday October 28, but West Yorkshire Police have acted early to ask for the game to be brought forward in an attempt to minimise crowd trouble.
That game has now been pencilled in for a 12:30pm kick-off, rather than the original 3pm; and the same is true of the reverse fixture, with Huddersfield Town set to play host to Leeds United on Saturday March 2.
Both teams will be hoping to have a happier time of it in the new Championship campaign ahead.
United were unsuccessful with their own battle against the drop. Like Town, they twice changed manager during the season, with Javi Gracia proving a short-lived successor to Jesse Marsch before Sam Allardyce was unable to get any kind of improvement out of the side over the final few games. They are still in the process of looking for a permanent replacement.
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Town meanwhile struggled throughout last season and spent the majority of the season in the bottom three, but Neil Warnock’s return to the club in February precipitated a remarkable turnaround in form. 21 points from the final ten games of the season meant that Town ultimately survived with a game still to spare and finished 18th in the table.
The two Yorkshire rivals last met in March 2020, with Leeds’ 2-0 victory at Elland Road the last game either side played before that season was called to a halt by the covid pandemic.
