City to host Leeds after UCL defeat to Leverkusen.
Manchester City vs Leeds United begins at 15:00 [GMT] on Saturday, November 29, at the Etihad.
After a shocking 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night, Manchester City will welcome Leeds United to the Etihad in a meeting that, on paper, heavily favours the home side. City have dominated this fixture in recent years, winning the last four Premier League encounters and scoring 16 goals across those matches. That run of form matches the total number of victories they managed in their first 16 Premier League games against Leeds, highlighting how much the dynamic of this rivalry has shifted. City’s form at home offers little encouragement for the visitors. Since losing their opening home league match of the season to Tottenham, Pep Guardiola’s side have responded emphatically, winning five straight at the Etihad with a combined score of 16-2. Another comfortable victory here would give City six consecutive home league wins by at least two goals, something they last achieved during an eight-game run in the 2023 title charge. Against promoted sides, City are almost flawless — unbeaten in their last 25 such matches, with 23 wins and no defeats since Leeds shocked them at the Etihad in April 2021. Erling Haaland is expected at the attacking end of City’s 4—2—3—1 formation.
Leeds travel to Manchester with an unenviable recent record. Their last two visits to the Etihad ended in heavy defeats — the infamous 7-0 loss in 2021 followed by a narrower 2-1 reverse in 2023. They haven’t suffered three consecutive away defeats to City since the 1960s, but that is the unwelcome milestone they are trying to avoid. They arrive out of form with three defeats in a row [LWLLL] and have lost five of their last six Premier League matches. Defensively, Leeds have been far from secure, conceding in nine straight league matches after keeping two clean sheets in their first three. Yet they remain sharp starters — each of their last four goals has arrived within the first 15 minutes, and no Premier League side has scored more goals in that period this season. One intriguing subplot comes on the touchline: Leeds boss Daniel Farke is one of the few managers to have beaten Manchester City with a promoted side, famously doing so with Norwich in 2019. Only Bryan Robson has managed the feat with two different promoted clubs, giving Farke the chance to join a very exclusive group. Farke could deploy a 4—3—3 formation with Nmecha, Aaronson, and Okafor in attack.