Leeds vs Burnley Prediction: Whites won’t let Parker off Scott-free on Saturday

A battle of the pre-season favourites for automatic promotion takes place in the EFL Championship on Saturday (12:30, Sky Sports +) as Leeds United and Burnley face off at Elland Road.

Read on for my Leeds vs Burnley prediction and all the latest team news ahead of this heavyweight clash in West Yorkshire.

Team News

Leeds' summer signing from Swiss side St. Gallen, Isaac Schmidt, remains injured and unavailable to make his Whites debut this weekend, but there is better news over Dan James, who missed Wales' Uefa Nations League games against Turkey and Montenegro through injury.

James is in line to return to the Leeds squad on Saturday and he could be joined by former Burnley forward Patrick Bamford, who has missed the last two games.

Football Odds

Burnley still have several players on the treatment table including Jordan Beyer, Hjalmar Ekdal, Zian Flemming, Aaron Ramsey, Nathan Redmond and Mike Tresor, while there are doubts over the fitness of French defender Maxime Esteve.

On-loan Bournemouth winger Jaidon Anthony, who spent last season at Elland Road, debuted for the Clarets against Blackburn at the end of last month and looks likely to keep his starting spot, while Scott Parker's options have been boosted by the addition of ex-Sheffield United defender John Egan earlier this week.

Leeds vs Burnley Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Leeds vs Burnley page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Leeds are 7/10, or a 58.8% chance, to make it three wins in a row on Saturday, while Burnley are 4/1 (20%) to get back to winning ways.

The draw is priced at 11/4, both teams to score at 4/5, and over 3.5 total goals at 2/1.

Leeds trio Bamford, Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe are all 7/4 to score anytime and 5/1 to find the net first, with Lyle Foster considered Burnley's most likely scorer at 11/4.

Bet Builder - Hannibal Mejbri (BUR) & Ethan Ampadu (LEE) carded @ 8/1

A hair-raising battle between a couple of midfield enforcers takes place at Elland Road this weekend, with Leeds' Ethan Ampadu and Burnley's Hannibal Mejbri both sure to be in the thick of the action in West Yorkshire.

Ampadu chopped off his trademark long locks earlier this year but will forever be associated with that hairstyle while Mejbri, who joined the Clarets from Leeds' bitter rivals Manchester United during the summer, is still going strong with his 'Sideshow Bob' cut.

I'm not sure whether there is an inextricable link between a good head of hair and an aggressive style of play on a football pitch, but Ampadu and Mejbri have certainly both made their respective marks in the professional game with those two traits.

I've spoken at length in other articles about Ampadu's eagerness to fly into a tackle, which can often result in a foul, as evidenced in the 10 yellow cards he received for the Whites in the Championship last season, and the 21 he was shown in Serie A across two seasons for Venezia and Spezia, picking up a red for the latter in 2022/23.

Ampadu has already entered a referee's notebook in England this term, receiving a caution in Leeds' Yorkshire derby victory over Sheffield Wednesday last month, while a trip to Montenegro with Wales on Monday brought about his first international yellow of the campaign.

The 23-year-old was shown a card in the first two minutes of that Uefa Nations League contest, and I expect him to be flying into the challenges again back in club action on Saturday.

Ampadu may well work his way into the referee's notebook, and there's a good chance he could be joined by Mejbri, who made his full debut for Burnley in their 1-1 Lancashire derby drew with Burnley on August 31. It took just 42 minutes for the Tunisian international to be shown his first Clarets card, and in total, he committed four fouls before being taken off in the 71st minute.

Mejbri was in the Man United system for a total of five years before leaving on a permanent deal last month and was surely taught about the long-standing rivalry between the Red Devils and Leeds.

There's usually a hostile atmosphere at Elland Road and given his past connections and style of play, there's every reason to back Mejbri to incur the referee's wrath on Saturday.

The 21-year-old picked up 10 Championship yellow cards in a season-long loan spell at Birmingham City in the 2022/23 season, further evidence of his tenacity in midfield which can often spill over.

An 8/1 card double on two of the division's most aggressive midfielders certainly piques my interest ahead of a meeting between two of the Championship's most-fancied sides for automatic promotion.

Match Result & Both Teams to Score - Leeds & Yes @ 12/5

Leeds made an inauspicious start to the 2024/25 season, drawing with Portsmouth (3-3) and West Bromwich Albion (1-1) in the league either side of a first-round Carabao Cup exit to Middlesbrough (0-3) at Elland Road.

However, the Whites responded by recording back-to-back 2-0 Yorkshire derby wins at Sheffield Wednesday and at home to Hull City, moving Daniel Farke's side to fourth in the Championship ahead of the international break.

The opposite can be said of Burnley who, after following up a 1-4 victory at Luton Town with a 5-0 thrashing of Cardiff City at Turf Moor, are now winless in their last three games across all competitions, including a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland and a 1-1 draw with Lancashire rivals Blackburn.

The Clarets suffered greatly towards the end of the transfer window, losing Vitinho, Wout Weghorst, Dara O'Shea, Ameen Al Dakhil, Anass Zaroury and Wilson Odobert, with all but Al Dakhil playing a part in their opening night victory at Kenilworth Road.

Parker must now piece together what's left, and although there has been movement the other way, it may take the Englishman a bit of time to get the new arrivals up to his way of thinking.

With the likes of Foster and Luca Koleosho in the side, Burnley will always back themselves to get on the scoresheet, and I think they will bring Leeds' clean sheet run to an abrupt end on Saturday.

However, it looks like the Whites are beginning to click into gear, and they might just have too much for the Clarets at Elland Road this weekend.

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