Premier League: Leicester Look to Spoil Jesse Marsch’s Leeds Debut

Leicester City vs Leeds United

It’s a start of a new era at Leeds United. Jesse Marsch is now in charge after the club parted ways with beloved manager Marcelo Bielsa amid a disastrous run of results.

Marsch is set to make his Leeds United bow this weekend away at Leicester City, who will be eager to spoil the American’s Premier League debut.

The Foxes finally ended their own disastrous winless drought by beating relegation-threatened Burnley, and the Premier League 2022 betting odds will have them favoured at home against struggling Leeds.

Talking Points

Returning Vardy fires Foxes to victory

Leicester City finally ended their disastrous five-game winless run in the Premier League with a 2-0 win away to Burnley. James Maddison and Jamie Vardy both scored late after coming on as substitutes to give the Foxes all three points.

Vardy missed the first two months of 2022 due to injury, and he made an immediate impact on his return to the side. The 35-year-old now has 10 goals on the season and is still the Foxes’ leading scorer in the Premier League despite playing just 17 games.

It remains to be seen whether Vardy will be fit enough to start against Leeds. But his return should nonetheless be a significant boost to a Leicester attack that has not been able to get goals consistently from the likes of Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho in the Premier League.

It should also please manager Brendon Rodgers that his side finally kept a clean sheet for the first time since the end of 2021. The Foxes’ defence has been a massive weakness all season long, and they conceded 10 goals during their recent five-game winless drought.

But it was promising to see centre-back Caglar Soyuncu put up one of his best performances of the season which could help boost his confidence.

Marsch the man to lead Leeds to safety?

Leeds are back in the thick of the relegation battle after a historically awful February. The Whites lost five of their six games while conceding 20 goals – the most any Premier League club has ever given up in a single month.

That disastrous run, which culminated in a 4-0 home defeat to Tottenham, led to the massive Premier League 2022 news that the club were moving on from Marcelo Bielsa. And now, Marsch steps in to try and lead the club out of relegation trouble.

The 48-year-old Marsch had a terrific two-year spell at Red Bull Salzburg, which earned him a promotion this season to RB Leipzig as the replacement for Julian Nagelsmann, who went to Bayern Munich.

Unfortunately, the American had a tough time in Leipzig. He won just eight of his 21 games in charge with nine defeats and was sacked in December 2021.

Marsch was unable to implement his heavy pressing system to much success in Leipzig, and he will not have much time to do so in Leeds.

Although, he could have key midfielder Kalvin Phillips back in the side against the Foxes, which would be a massive boost. The England international has been missing since December due to a hamstring injury, but he is finally closing in on his return.

Leeds have won just one of their last eight Premier League games away from Elland Road, with five defeats. They have conceded an astonishing 26 goals from those last eight games, and three or more in five of the last six.

History

This will be the 20th meeting between Leeds and Leicester in the Premier League. Leeds hold a slight 9-8 edge, with just two draws.

The two sides split their two meetings last season, with the home side winning both times. After going down early, Leeds won 3-1 at the King Power Stadium thanks to goals from Stuart Dallas, Patrick Bamford, and Jack Harrison.

The two sides then played out a 1-1 draw in their first meeting this season in November. Raphinha had given Leeds the lead, but Harvey Barnes equalised just a couple of minutes later. Barnes has scored in all three Premier League meetings against Leeds.

Betting Tip 

SBOTOP odds have Leicester City installed as 1.83 favourites to defeat Leeds United in Jesse Marsch’s debut. The Whites have 3.90 odds of winning, while a draw is at 3.75.

Clearly, Marsch has his work cut out for him with just a few days to prepare his new side for this encounter, especially on the defensive end.  

But based on his previous stops with the Red Bull teams, his teams are not afraid to attack, and they will likely do so away to a Leicester side that also has significant issues at the back.

All in all, Marsch’s first match is shaping up to be quite a high-scoring affair, one that Leeds can possibly get a point out of. But the over seems to be a safer bet given the shaky state of the two defences.

 

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