Leeds United's trip to Cardiff could see manager under pressure amid historic rivalry

-Credit: (Image: (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images))
-Credit: (Image: (Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images))


Leeds United will hope to return to winning ways next weekend when they travel to south Wales to face Cardiff City. The Bluebirds have endured a torrid time so far this time; they sit bottom of the Championship having lost four out of five games with just one goal to show from them.

On Saturday, their latest disappointment came at the hands of Derby County at Pride Park as the the side from Wales’ capital lost 1-0 in the East Midlands.

So, with the law of averages, they are due a win but for Daniel Farke he will see this fixture as a ‘must-win’ as he aims for promotion for the second time of asking after missing out in the Play-Offs against Southampton at Wembley last season. Logically, even though Leeds were wasteful in front of goal against Burnley, they did in fact create several opportunities that, on another occasion, may have handed them a victory.

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Cardiff boss Erol Bulut avoided speaking with the press after his side’s fourth League defeat which coincided with the Bluebirds’ worst start to a season in 35 years. However, his assistant Omer Riza stepped up to the plate, he told BBC Sport Wales: “When you talk about concern, obviously we’ve lost games and we’ve picked up one point so it’s not where we want to be," Riza told BBC Sport Wales.

"We want to be winning games and getting momentum. The only way you get those things is if you win and perform well. We’ve performed well in patches but it’s not enough."

Despite all of this, Bulut boasts a record as Cardiff boss as he is the only man to last a full season since Neil Warnock managed the side during the 2018-19 season, which ended in relegation to the Championship.

But time may well be ticking on the Turkish manager’s tenure in Wales if he cannot muster a string of results in the next few weeks. Leeds will go into this fixture as favourites and will take confidence from last year’s 0-3 victory away at Cardiff which saw Daniel James, Patrick Bamford, and Georginio Rutter all contribute with goals to send the travelling fans home happy.

Strangely, given the geography of the sides, the match is considered a ‘Derby’ or at least a rivalry. This stems from an FA Cup tie in 2002, the sides had not met in a competitive match since 1984-85 ahead of the game.

Expectedly, unsavoury scenes followed; Ian Harte was narrowly missed by a bottle thrown by Cardiff supporters. As the game neared its conclusion Cardiff Chairman Sam Hammam began walking around the side of the pitch, as he usually did to encourage supporters, and was pelted by an array of missiles from the away supporters. A late goal to secure a Cardiff win sent Ninian Park into bedlam before home fans invaded the pitch once the referee Andy D’Urso blew the final whistle.

Although, next week’s game will not reach the extremes of previous years, both sets of supporters will love to have the bragging rights come 5pm on Saturday - a Leeds win may well give the Cardiff board a decision to make regarding their manager’s future.