“Different now” – Southampton factors played down as Leeds United face old foe v West Brom

“Different now” – Southampton factors played down as Leeds United face old foe v West Brom

Adam Armstrong x Leeds United (bubble image) x West Brom (bubble image)

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Leeds United will be looking to extend their unbeaten run in the Championship to 17 games on Saturday as they welcome West Bromwich Albion to Elland Road.

The Whites took themselves five points clear of Sheffield United on Monday evening with an incredible late 3-1 win over the Blades at Bramall Lane, and another victory against the Baggies would see their gap over third-place Burnley extend to 10 points.

Daniel Farke’s side have been in superb form since the start of December, and they have won their last five games in the league. The only blip on their record in the last couple of months remains an FA Cup third round defeat to Millwall.

However, West Brom possess plenty of quality in their side and, after loaning in a Southampton striker in the January transfer window, Leeds may have fears about history repeating itself.

Leeds told to expect different threat from Adam Armstrong in Baggies clash

Adam Armstrong made the switch to the Hawthorns earlier in February, and he made an instant impact, opening the scoring in a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday on his debut.

However, he is yet to add any more strikes to his Baggies tally and supporters of the West Yorkshire side will hope that his goal drought continues this weekend.

The 28-year-old has an excellent record against his opponents, and Football League World has asked their Leeds Fan Pundit, Joe Blackburn, if he is worried about the threat that the striker carries, having scored four goals against the Whites last season.

He told FLW: “I think the situation with Adam Armstrong is fundamentally different now to what it was last season. So last season we severely struggled against Southampton, but that wasn’t specifically an Armstrong thing.

“That was a case of we didn’t quite understand how to shut down their midfield, and it meant with them having three pure central midfielders and us only having two, we lost control of the middle of the park quite easily, which allowed them to get the ball to Armstrong, who made those clever runs in behind to get on the end of chances.”

Southampton’s Adam Armstrong celebrates with the trophy after winning the Championship Play-Off final

Joe continued: “On the other hand, at West Brom we play a little bit differently now, and he’s playing in a different system. While Armstrong is still a very, very good footballer, I feel like he’s in less of an ideal system for him to get the performance that he will want to against Leeds.

“While he is still a threat, I don’t think he’s the same scale of threat against us as he was for Southampton.”

Leeds will take a huge amount of confidence into the game after Sheffield United win

While Armstrong will be a threat for West Brom, Leeds have already proven themselves to be excellent defensively against some of the best forwards in the league, and they have more than enough quality at the back to stop the Baggies’ number 32 from having a say at Elland Road.

While Farke may have preferred his side to be a bit more controlled in their wins against Sunderland and Sheffield United recently, scoring late goals will have given them a huge boost, and they go into this weekend’s game full of confidence.

Joe Rodon and Pascal Strujik have been exceptional this season, and they know that if they can keep Armstrong quiet then getting a positive result will become slightly easier, but there is also other quality in this West Brom team that they must shut down, including Tom Fellows.

However, Leeds should have enough to earn a sixth successive win and strengthen their grip on promotion.

Leeds United linked with Southampton raid for Illan Meslier replacement

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