{"id":662880,"date":"2026-01-03T12:38:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T17:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=662880"},"modified":"2026-01-03T12:38:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T17:38:46","slug":"leeds-united-predicted-lineup-manchester-united-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/01\/03\/leeds-united-predicted-lineup-manchester-united-january\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Predicted Lineup vs Manchester United for January 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leeds United\u2019s next game sees them renew hostilities with arch-rivals Manchester United, who face a tough task against the in-form Whites at Elland Road. It is now six games unbeaten for Daniel Farke\u2019s side, who have marched seven points clear<\/a> of the relegation zone and could go as high as 15th with a win. Here is our Leeds United predicted lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Predicted Lineup for Huge Derby Clash with Manchester United<\/b><\/h2>\n

How Leeds Have Lined Up Recently<\/b><\/h3>\n

Goalkeeper Lucas Perri kept his third clean sheet of the season as Leeds secured a 0-0 draw at Anfield, frustrating Arne Slot\u2019s men with an outstanding defensive display. With Joe Rodon injured, Sebastiaan Bornauw stepped into the back three alongside Jaka Bijol and Pascal Struijk, and the Belgian defender looked assured and composed on his first start for the club.<\/span><\/p>\n

At right wing-back, James Justin was handed a start to allow Jayden Bogle a rare rest, and the former Leicester man was outstanding, earning the Player of the Match<\/a> award and highlighting Leeds\u2019 strength in depth. There was no rest for the tireless Gabriel Gudmundsson at left wing-back, who is likely to play 90 minutes in all three of United\u2019s games this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>John Terry Reacts to Enzo Maresca Leaving Chelsea<\/a><\/p>\n

In midfield, Farke opted for the extra protection provided by Ilia Gruev alongside stalwarts Ethan Ampadu and Anton Stach, allowing the Whites to keep things tight and prevent Liverpool\u2019s creative players from impacting the game. <\/span><\/p>\n

Up front, Brenden Aaronson was pushed forward alongside the returning Lukas Nmecha, with the in-form Dominic Calvert-Lewin given a rest due to his previous injury troubles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Recent Form and Tactics<\/b><\/h3>\n

Leeds have now gone six games unbeaten, and this is largely down to Farke\u2019s decision to move to a more pragmatic 3-5-2 system, which has transformed the Whites into a tough, organised outfit who make life difficult for any opposition. United kept Liverpool to just three shots on target at Anfield, and arguably created the best opportunity of the game with Calvert-Lewin\u2019s disallowed goal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Opta, Leeds now have just a 10.66% chance of being relegated, highlighting how dramatically they have improved since November, when Farke\u2019s position was starting to look untenable. <\/span><\/p>\n

With the January transfer window now open, the Whites are reportedly considering<\/a> bringing in a new forward and centre-half to further boost their bid for survival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Absences to Consider<\/b><\/h3>\n

Farke said it is going to be \u2018difficult\u2019<\/a> to cope without captain Ethan Ampadu, who will miss the Manchester United game due to an accumulation of yellow cards. <\/span>Rodon remains unavailable and may miss around three weeks with an ankle ligament issue.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Long-term absentees Sean Longstaff and Daniel James will also miss the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leeds Predicted Lineup<\/b><\/h3>\n

GK: Lucas Perri<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Sebastiaan Bournaw<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Jaka Bijol<\/span><\/p>\n

CB: Pascal Struijk<\/span><\/p>\n

RWB: Jayden Bogle<\/span><\/p>\n

LWB: Gabriel Gudmundsson<\/span><\/p>\n

CM: Ilia Gruev<\/span><\/p>\n

CM: Anton Stach<\/span><\/p>\n

CM: Brenden Aaronson<\/span><\/p>\n

ST: Dominic Calvert-Lewin<\/span><\/p>\n

ST: Noah Okafor<\/span><\/p>\n

Featured Image Credit<\/strong><\/p>\n

IMAGO \/ Pro Sports Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leeds United\u2019s next game sees them renew hostilities with arch-rivals Manchester United, who face a tough task against the in-form Whites at Elland Road. It is now six games unbeaten for Daniel Farke\u2019s side, who have marched seven points clear of the relegation zone and could go as high as 15th with a win. Here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5510,"featured_media":662339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6443,1831],"tags":[9646],"class_list":["post-662880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-premier-league","category-leeds-united","category-starting-line-up","tag-leeds-united-predicted-lineup"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662880"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":662905,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662880\/revisions\/662905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}