Leeds vs Liverpool: Will history be repeated?
The English Premier League over the years has seen surprise wins at various stages of the competition, with records being broken from time to time.
Today is a day a lot of football fans across the world have been waiting for as the Premier League which is arguably the biggest soccer league in the world commences its 2020/21 season.
The biggest game everyone would probably be looking forward to is the match between the Championship winners and newly promoted, Leeds United F.C., and the reigning EPL Champions, Liverpool United.
The match is a very controversial one considering the fact that Leeds United was just promoted and has to face the EPL giants whose impressive performance earned them their 19th league title with seven matches remaining in the 2019/20 season.
Liverpool had finally ended their league title drought after 30 years, however, their opponent Leeds were runaway winners in the Championship with a 10 point difference ahead of the second club on the Championship table.
But are they ready enough to stand against a side who have so far shown no signs of weakness in the premier league and still has most of the revered players who can still put up an impressive battle to retain the EPL trophy for another year?
Many a time, newly promoted sides are subjected to heavy defeats as they try to find their feet in the new atmosphere of football, the only newly-promoted side to have won its first Premier League fixture in recent times is Reading, who beat Middlesbrough in 3-2 in 2006/07 season, their first-ever season as a top-flight club.
But, will history repeat its self in Liverpool and Leeds clash, in the second week of the 1995/96 under rated Leeds side won by a lone goal with a powerful strike by former Black Star’s forward Tony Yeboah.
“It was very interesting because before the game there were rumours that Leeds could not score Liverpool so there was tension in the game,” Yeboah recalled in recent interview.
“I was also a Liverpool supporter so I was anxious meeting the top players in Liverpool. I had decided before the game to show my prowess so I thank God for making me score a fantastic goal.” He added.
Battle of Managers
Leeds is coming into the game with experience Argentine Marcelo Bielsa who has led the Yorkshire side to promotion in his second season in charge after finishing third in the Championship in the 2018/19 season.
Liverpool, on the other hand, has an unbeaten home record for three successive seasons and will be hoping to extend it while they host Leeds at Anfield, they come into the game having scored at least three goals in every opening match under manager Jurgen Klopp.