Leeds United v Crystal Palace

Tonight Leeds take on Crystal Palace at Elland Road for the Monday Night Football fixture.

I am sure I am not alone in feeling like I am losing track of all the fixtures and feeling that I am just not involved in this season. It doesn’t feel like a real season, it feels like one of those pre-season tournaments that is hyped up for the sponsors.

I struggle to watch the games on television, I like to know what is happening in the background, which players work hard off the ball and which subs are warming up etc. You don’t see all of that on television. I have often wondered why I have such a different view of games to those who have not been, now I understand where they were coming from. The television cameras dictate the view of the game.

Football is good for our mental health. It is not just a 90 minute game, it’s the build up all week, the journey to the game, the pre match drinks, the atmosphere and the post match review on the way home. It is a big part of our lives and for nearly a year it has been missing. Whilst there is very good reason for it, it doesn’t make it any easier.

So if you are feeling the same, you are not alone and it is okay to be missing football.

We know it will come back, normality will return and whilst we say we won’t complain about anything ever again, we know we will after a few months. It wouldn’t be normal not to have a moan about the car parks, or a game that has been changed to Sunday at 4.30pm.

Now I have got that out of my system, back to the actual game, that I will try really hard to watch but will struggle with.

Leeds have a lengthy injury list with Rodrigo and Ian Poveda now there alongside the long term absentees of Robin Koch, Gaetano Berardi, Adam Forshaw and Diego Llorente.

However, there has been no new injury concerns and Marcelo Bielsa will likely stick with the same side who started against Everton last week.

There is good news in that Berardi is due to returning to training today after his ACL injury. It would be fantastic to see him return to the side at some point this season.

Crystal Palace have injury concerns of their own with 10 players either out or doubtful. Wilfred Zaha is one of those players as he recovers from a hamstring injury.

The weather might play its part tonight, with temperatures set to be well below zero, the non stop running might be enough to give us the edge and take all three points tonight.

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