The pick of the action in England's second tier this weekend will take place at Elland Road on Saturday, as Leeds United entertain Ipswich Town in a key clash at the top of the Championship table.
Having both been held to draws last time out, the hosts sit third with a 10-point gap up to their visitors in the automatic promotion places.
Match preview
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Leeds United return to Elland Road for the final time before Christmas on Saturday with the aim of gaining crucial ground in their pursuit of automatic promotion, having been unable to crack the top two despite enjoying a positive first half to the campaign under Daniel Farke.
Indeed, it has only been the fine form of Leicester City and Saturday's opponents which has denied the Yorkshire outfit a place in the top two at this stage, as Saturday's hosts collected 41 points from their first 20 league outings, culminating in three consecutive wins over Swansea City, Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers after the November international break.
They have been unable to add a 13th notch to the wins column in the last two attempts, though, firstly falling just short in a trip to Sunderland as Jobe Bellingham netted the only goal to condemn Farke's side to a fourth league defeat of the term before they most recently played host to Coventry City last Saturday with the aim of getting back to winning ways.
Crysencio Summerville opened the scoring in the 58th minute of that contest, but Bobby Thomas quickly drew their visitors level and the promotion-hopefuls were unable to find a winning goal at Elland Road, settling for a somewhat underwhelming point.
Such a result meant that Leeds United remain 10 points behind Saturday's visitors and fell 13 behind leaders Leicester City, and with the crucial contest bringing up the halfway point of the Championship season, they will be desperate to return to winning ways and begin narrowing the gap with their sights set on making an instant return to the Premier League.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, are also new to the Championship this season with the aim of reaching the top flight, having only climbed from England's third tier last time around under the management of Kieran McKenna.
Ipswich Town have enjoyed a memorable and seamless transition too, building up an eye-catching lead over third place having notched up 52 points from their first 22 matches, winning 16 of those while only suffering two defeats.
The most recent of those losses came away at West Bromwich Albion in late November, and the Tractor Boys bounced back in style with consecutive wins over Millwall, Coventry City, Middlesbrough and Watford to further strengthen their back-to-back promotion hopes, scoring nine goals across the four outings ahead of an East Anglian Derby against Norwich City on Saturday.
Aiming for a first win over their rivals in 14 years to move further clear of Leeds, McKenna's men initially went ahead through Nathan Broadhead, but after Jon Rowe netted a brace for their visitors, they were eventually able to come away with a share of the spoils at Portman Road as Wes Burns levelled the scores.
Now with the chance to further build on what has been a historic start under McKenna and go 13 points clear of the chasing Whites at the halfway stage of the Championship term, Ipswich will travel to Elland Road looking to take a major scalp and make a quick return to winning ways.
Team News
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Leeds United may come into Saturday's key contest with an unchanged starting XI from their meeting with Coventry City last time out, and with Junior Firpo, Stuart Dallas and Sam Byram all set to remain sidelined, Archie Gray and Djed Spence are bound to again play either side of the pairing of Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk in a back four.
In their 4-2-3-1 shape, Georginio Rutter will continue to lead the line, while Joel Piroe will again operate from slightly deeper having notched up eight Championship goals since his summer arrival from Swansea City.
It is Crysencio Summerville who leads the squad with 10 league goals so far this term, and he is bound to feature on the left wing with Daniel James again set to get the nod over Willy Gnonto and Jaidon Anthony on the other flank, while Glen Kamra should continue to join mainstay Ethan Ampadu in the engine room.
Ipswich also tend to line up in a 4-2-3-1 setup under Kieran McKenna and may be unchanged from the draw with Norwich with little chance of any major rotation, and Massimo Luongo and captain Sam Morsy are bound to continue their impressive partnership in midfield.
Behind them, Luke Woolfenden and Christian Burgess will partner up in the middle of the defence, while Harry Clarke has recently got the nod over Manchester United loanee Brandon Williams on the right-hand side, with Vaclav Hladky continuing between the sticks having impressed while initially deputising for Christian Walton at the start of the term, only to establish himself as the number one stopper at Portman Road.
At the other end of the pitch, George Hirst should continue to lead the line with support from the dangerous trio of Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin and Nathan Broadhead, despite plenty of competition for places in the front four from the likes of Freddie Ladapo, Dane Scarlett and Omari Hutchinson, as Chaplin and Broadhead each boast eight Championship goals this season while Hirst has netted six and Burns has chipped in with three.
Leeds United possible starting lineup:
Meslier; Gray, Rodon, Struijk, Spence; Kamara, Ampadu; James, Piroe, Summerville; Rutter
Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:
Hladky; Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis; Morsy, Luongo; Burns, Chaplin, Broadhead; Hirst
We say: Leeds United 2-2 Ipswich Town
We certainly anticipate a tight and high-quality encounter at Elland Road on Saturday between two of the Championship's standout sides and cannot quite pick a winner.
Given the 10-point gap between them, it is Leeds who really require a victory, but Kieran McKenna's men should have what it takes to leave with a share of the spoils.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Sam Varley
