The Athletic reports that Leeds fans are the most optimistic in the division, closely followed by us in joint second. Got a 1-1 draw written all over it Saint.
I think that's a fair breakdown of the table. Palace and Fulham have a fair bit of upheaval and Sunderland have second season and Europe to contend with.
While I appreciate that Tarik Muharemović is seen as a real upgrade, I've not seen much to suggest that Leeds won't be pretty similar to last year. I can see them having the difficult second season that we did. Farke is still only that good.
Our performance level last year is much more straightforward to explain, and should be rectifiable. And Glasner is a distinct step up.
Leeds fans seem really excited about him. I'd not heard of him either.
But Milenkovic was transformative, so it's not impossible this week be similar. Hopefully Big Nik is less whiny this year.
I realise getting annoyed by pundits is among the most pointless things in the world but in Chris Sutton's prediction thingy on the BBC, he says, "I am covering this game for Radio 5 Live but it is almost impossible to predict. Glasner usually went with a 3-4-3 shape at Palace but has gone on record saying he works with what he has got, so I am not sure how they will line up for this game."
So he's covering the game on the radio, but isn't interested enough to check on how we've been playing in pre-season, when we've played some form of 343 in every game? This may look foolish tomorrow afternoon but, barring late injuries or an unlikely punt on Wood, there's only one place in the team that isn't nailed on - McAtee or Schlager to play with Sangare in midfield.
Unless he goes really leftfield tomorrow, Glasner has generally picked what looks like a "probables" and "possibles" between two halves or two games. Ndoye was obviously late back because of the world cup but since he came back, I think he's always been in the probables. But my get out is the unlikely punt on Wood - there is a slim chance of MGW/Jesus/Wood.
I suspect it will be N'Doye but if he wants more physical cuntiness, he might go with this. Depends how he wants to start. Could finish with this setup.
With Yates out, expect Abbot on the bench, the club seem focused on ensuring that they keep the tradition alive and Taylor’s article this morning also suggests that Abbot may not go out on loan, which I think all of us expected he would and probably should.
I don't think it makes much sense that we'd impact his career development to maintain that record for a few games while Yates is out, it's not difficult to bring another youth up to warm a spot on the bench. If Abbott is staying it's presumably because the manager thinks he's got a role to play.