Leeds United face the second of two tough away matches in a matter of days at Sunderland and midfielder Jobe Bellingham has been speaking ahead of it.
The meeting at the Stadium of Light has the potential to be one of the best games so far this season with both sides among the Championship’s early pace-setters.
Sunderland currently occupy top spot in the division with Leeds three points and three places further back. Daniel Farke’s squad, though, is going to face a real test of their resolve.
Leeds were already without Ethan Ampadu, Max Wober, Manor Solomon, Dan James and Isaac Schmidt for Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Norwich City, but also lost Ilia Gruev within 20 minutes.
With such a short turnaround until the trip to Sunderland, it would be a bonus if even one of those were able to make it.
Bellingham makes Leeds claim ahead of Sunderland clash
Under former Leeds managerial target Regis Le Bris, Sunderland have been one of the Championship’s surprise packages this season.
Having limped to a mid-table finish last term, Sunderland have bounced back in impressive style despite the loss of Jack Clarke to Ipswich Town.
Sunderland have won all four of their home league matches under Le Bris and so Leeds’ unbeaten away record is also going to be put to the test.
Speaking to the Sunderland Echo ahead of the game, Bellingham believes Leeds will prove stern opposition for the Black Cats and thinks Farke’s side are a benchmark for they want to be.
He said: “It’ll be another really tough test. Today was a different type of challenge to what that will be like. As we know, Leeds are a really, really good opposition, aren’t they? We’re going to have to face the challenge and see what we can do and try and get through it together as a team with the fans.
“It will be a massive boost against a really good team with really good players who were right up there last year and that’s where we want to be. So we’re going to have to compete against those kind of teams and at home it’s a real advantage.”
Sunderland vs Leeds key Championship stats
Though Sunderland are ahead of Leeds in terms of league position, wins and of course points, it is Leeds’ underlying numbers which actually make for better reading so far.
As such it will be interesting to see how that matches up on Friday, and how that starts to balance out as the season goes on.
| Stat | Leeds United | Sunderland |
| Points | 15 | 18 |
| Wins | 4 | 6 |
| Goals | 13 | 16 |
| Goals against | 5 | 6 |
| Expected goals (xG) | 13.5 | 11.1 |
| Expected goals against (xGA) | 5.2 | 7.8 |
| Avg. possession | 60.8% | 45.4% |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 5 |
| Touches in opp. box | 223 | 206 |
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