Stoke City vs Leeds United Prediction: Leeds can finally secure big away win

Leeds United’s title challenge continues on Boxing Day as they look to address their away form that has seen Sheffield United put a three point gap between the Whites and the top of the table. Next up, Daniel Farke takes his side to Stoke City, with this one kicking off at 20:00 on Sky Sports Main Event.

Stoke have only won five games all season and are sliding slowly towards a relegation battle. Below you can find my Stoke City vs Leeds United predictions, featuring team news and betting tips. 

Team News

Joe Rodon is a doubt for this game having suffered a cut to his head but Farke is “carefully optimistic” that he will be okay to play in this one.  Pascal Struijk dropped to the bench for the contest having been a doubt for the game due to tightness in his hamstring and could miss out again if Ethan Ampadu continues at centre-back. 

That was the Welshman’s first start since suffering knee ligament damage at the end of September but unfortunately Max Wober looks like to miss out again having suffered another knee problem in training. Junior Firpo (hamstring) and Ilia Gruev (knee) remain out. 

It’s difficult to know what Narcis Pelach is going to do at the moment in charge given the poor run of form that Stoke are on. Ben Wilmot, Ben Gibson and Michael Rose started as a back three at Hillsborough and they could continue in front of the impressive Viktor Johansson. 

Bae Joon-Ho, Sam Gallagher, Sol Sidibe and Lynden Gooch are all pushing for starts, while Emre Tezgel probably should have been given more minutes in recent weeks. Ben Pearson, their only absentee, is set to return in a couple of weeks, so there really are no excuses for this squad right now. Results have to improve. 

Stoke City vs Leeds United Odds

Stoke are priced at 5/1 to win this game, having secured just three wins from 11 on home soil so far, while Leeds are priced at 8/15, giving them an implied win probability of 65%. A draw can be backed at 100/30 while over 2.5 goals is 4/5.

That has only come in during 41% of both of Leeds and Stoke City’s matches this term, while BTTS is 5/6 if you fancy it. Joel Piroe is unsurprisingly the favourite to score first at 9/2, having already hit seven this term. 

Leeds to win to nil @ 7/5 

The Championship is a cruel mistress, and Leeds have now failed to win four of their last away games, which is pretty significant given they have won 10 from 12 at home. However, they are coming up against a really poor Stoke outfit that is low on confidence, and backed by a big away following, I’m backing them to get the job done in style.

The away form has been slightly iffy of late, but their home showings are pretty much perfect. These are the same players, and I think they will show their class in Staffordshire. Ampadu’s return should solve a lot of their issues on the road, and I think we will see Farke’s men kick on and win this division.