Aston Villa could be making the trip up the M1 to Elland Road on Saturday without influential captain and talisman Jack Grealish.  Grealish missed the 1-2 loss to Leicester City and he is 50/50 to play against Leeds. Villa have one of the smallest squads in the Premier League, so Dean Smith is unlikely to risk him for this fixture. Villa will be looking to make things right as Leeds beat them by 0-3 at Villa Park in late October thanks to a Patrick Bamford hat trick.

Grealish is the most fouled player in the EPL by a country mile. He plays a pivotal role in retaining possession. He helps move Villa up the field into the attacking third. Regardless of the Villa line up, Leeds are likely to dominate possession against Aston Villa.  More possession usually means more goal attempts, and Leeds average 14.3 shots per game at home while Villa average 12.6 shots in away games.

Leeds will take confidence from the clean sheet kept in the dominant 3-0 victory against Southampton on Tuesday; the team will be looking to keep another clean sheet at home. Leeds will, however, be vulnerable to the counter-attacking threat posed by the pace and power of Ollie Watkins, who can get in behind the Leeds defence. He has scored 4 goals in the last 7 games. In Ross Barkley and Bertrand Traore, Villa have goal-scoring threats from midfield. Both Full backs also love to get forward. Right-back Matty Cash will miss this game due to injury, so Elmohamady is likely to come in.

Villa will need the attackers to get in on the action as the team has not managed to score more than 1 goal in a game since the 3-2 loss to Burnley on January 27th. Aston Villa can count on a compact and well-organised defence that has only let in 1 goal in the last 3 matches. Villa’s defence will face a stern test from in-form Patrick Bamford and Raphinha, who will get chances to score. The Leeds midfield is adept at creating chances to score. The midfielders are excellent with their ball-playing abilities.

Despite the absence of influential players like Kalvin Phillips, Rodrigo Moreno and Robert Koch, Leeds have been coping. Mateusz Klich and Jamie Shackleton are also carrying knocks and will face late fitness tests. Emi Martinez has been heroic in goal for Villa, but Leeds have the firepower to cause problems.

If Marcelo Bielsa can nullify the counter-attack threat by holding a deep defensive line when out of possession, his Leeds team should find it comfortable against Villa again. A win would get Leeds up to 8th place ahead of Aston Villa. Dean Smith sitting in 8th place with 2 games in hand, will be the happier manager with a draw. Smith must ensure that his midfielders protect the back four against a formidable Leeds attack.