The Premier League’s bottom two clubs meet at Elland Road on Saturday but will it be Leeds or Southampton who boost their survival hopes?
“Leeds appointed Javi Gracia as their new boss this week, but their problem now is whether he will be allowed into the dugout while his work permit is being approved,” BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton said.
“Even if not, I am sure he will still put his stamp on the team that faces Saints – but can you get a new manager bounce without having your new manager in the dugout?”
Sutton is making predictions for every Premier League game this season, against a variety of guests.
For this weekend’s fixtures, he is up against Those Damn Crows drummer Ronnie Huxford, who supports Manchester United and Wales.
Those Damn Crows’ new album, Inhale/Exhale, was released this week and they are currently touring the UK.
Huxford is enjoying Manchester United’s revival this season, especially because not many people saw it coming.
“It’s a great time to be a United fan,” he told BBC Sport. “Everyone wrote us off at the start of the season, and were saying it would take us years to rebuild.
“Don’t get me wrong, we still have some major problems but I feel like Erik ten Hag is getting things right, one by one, and it’s not just a short-term fix – he is putting the foundations in for the future too.
“We were on tour in August when we started the season by losing to Brighton and being battered by Brentford, and the boys in the band and the crew too were all giving me massive banter about Ten Hag – stuff like ‘he’s the right man, isn’t he!’ or ‘here we go, another manager gone’. Stuff like that.
“But I genuinely felt a different vibe off him and I was like ‘no, we’ve got to give this guy time’.
“He looked the part when he came in, just like he was ready for the job, and he has lived up to that with the way he has handled every player, like getting the best out of Marcus Rashford and putting an arm around Jadon Sancho for example.
“Even when he has brought in players on loan, you can see they are here to do a job – to fit in and play his way. There is a plan, which we don’t always seem to have had when we’ve bought people recently.
“So yes, there is a real confidence about United for a change. It’s been a long time since I had the old vibe that we are going to win, whoever we play and even if we go 2-0 down, and it is such a good feeling.”
Source – BBC Sports
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