Leeds vs Norwich predictions: Hosts can advance to Wembley
- First leg at Norwich ended goalless
- Leeds finished third in Championship, Norwich sixth
- Recommended bet: Leeds to win to zero
Leeds can stay on course for promotion back to the Premier League by seeing off Norwich at Elland Road in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final.
The two sides played out a tense goalless draw in the first leg on Sunday, but the Whites can advance to Wembley with victory at home.
The 0-0 draw at Carrow Road saw both sides keeping it tight and appearing to be more afraid of losing rather than going for a first-leg win.
However, that must change in West Yorkshire and the feeling is that the hosts, backed by a fervent home support, will prevail.
Team news
Leeds are still without Patrick Bamford and Pascal Struijk for the second leg, while Wilfried Gnonto is set to be passed fit despite fears that he had picked up a knock at Carrow Road.
Daniel Farke is likely to keep any changes to a minimum, but Daniel James and Joel Piroe are pushing for recalls to the starting XI.
Josh Sargent was forced off late on in the first leg with an ankle problem, so the Norwich frontman is a doubt for the visitors, while Ashley Barnes will also be assessed in the hope he can make the squad following a recent calf injury.
Onel Hernandez and Liam Gibbs remain unavailable for the Canaries.
The stats
Leeds had the second best home record in the Championship this season, winning 16 of their 23 games at Elland Road.
Only five teams had a worse away record than Norwich in the second tier – the Canaries picked up just six wins and 24 points in total on the road.
Leeds scored more goals (81) than Norwich (79) in the regular season and also conceded fewer, with Farke's men letting in 43 compared to Norwich's total of 64 goals against.
Leeds won 1-0 at Elland Road in January when the two sides met in the regular season.
The Whites also won 3-2 away at Carrow Road in October.
Prediction
Norwich may have wasted their best chance of progressing to the play-off final as they failed to take advantage of being at home first with Leeds grinding out a draw at Carrow Road.
David Wagner might regret not being a tad more adventurous as the game wore on and now Leeds are expected to try and take the game to the Canaries at home.
That should make for a much better spectacle and, considering what is on the line, nerves and mistakes could also play a part.
Leeds will certainly be the happier of the two sides going into the second leg and they can now book their Wembley place.
Norwich have failed to score in two successive games and if their attack fires another blank on Thursday, Leeds are likely to take full advantage.
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