Leeds United have a “Mount Everest” test on our hands to pick up a result against Manchester City today, in Daniel Farke’s words.
Leeds’ final game of February is one of our toughest remaining fixtures, a home clash against Manchester City at Elland Road.
United’s form of late suggests we have a chance of unsettling Pep Guardiola’s side in their pursuit of catching Arsenal.
Can Leeds United pull off a shock against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City?
As much as we all fancy our chances against anyone when playing at Elland Road under the lights, it’s still Pep’s Man City.
They have the opportunity to go within two points of Arsenal with victory, ahead of their home meeting with Chelsea on Sunday. As a result, we can expect an incredibly driven Man City performance in LS11.
Daniel Farke is under no illusions that it’s a tall order to get anything from this match. He likened the game to “Mount Everest” during his pre-match press conference.
Still Mount Everest. Such a rare occasion you have one of these days to create something magic,” Farke said via the YEP, referring to his historic 3-2 win over Man City as Norwich City boss in September 2019.
“You have to over-perform, also need a bit of luck that City aren’t at their best. I need a special atmosphere where everyone is buzzing in the stadium. We have to use our chances. With Norwich we scored four goals, super-effective but it was a long time ago. We face a side in red-hot form, top players. Best manager so it’s still Mount Everest.”
Manchester City’s second-half weakness exposed – Leeds United must stay in the game
Matching the side sitting second in the league with the best manager in history is a very, very difficult task for Farke and Leeds.
That said, they’re not invincible.
Looking at how you hurt this iteration of Pep’s Man City, a standout weakness is the stark contrast between their first and second half performances.
We saw it first-hand at the Etihad in late November. While our switch in formation caught them cold, it’s a noticeable trend that Man City are significantly worse in second halves this season, especially on the road.
If you were to split their games into first halves and second halves, and allot points accordingly, it’s night and day.
Man City in away games Wins Draws Losses Goals for Goals against Points League position
First Half 7 5 1 11 2 26 1st
Second half 4 3 6 11 14 15 13th
Therefore, the task for Farke is twofold:
Keep it tight in the first half, ride out Man City’s bright starts
Get at them in the second half
For that to happen, Farke needs to dip into his set of substitutes proactively to alter the game in our favour. We know he can make the right subs, something he’s doing much more often. But here, there’s no margin for error.
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