Dean White

Fri 11 December 2020 15:07, UK

Leeds United have put on quite the show since winning promotion back to the Premier League with Marcelo Bielsa earning plenty of plaudits from pundits, rival managers and neutral fans.

Since returning to the top-flight, Leeds have been involved in four matches that have had five or more goals with Bielsa’s system heavily relying on his team outscoring their opponents in order to get results.

One of the ways that Bielsa likes to see his team attack is by using the full-backs to push very high up the pitch. According to stats by WyScout, right-back Luke Ayling ranks second in the Premier League for progressive passes [155] while no one has completed more passes into the final-third than the Leeds man [126].

Just to show how high up the pitch Leeds’ full-backs play, below are heatmaps of both Ayling and left-back Stuart Dallas’ displays in the Yorkshire club’s 4-1 defeat at home against Leicester last month.

As you can see, both players stay tight to the touchline but they are also involved very high up the pitch.

West Ham will travel to Leeds on Friday night in the hope of bouncing back to winning ways after their 3-1 defeat to Manchester United last week ended a three-match streak of victories.

And with Bielsa – a fan of continuity – unlikely to stray from his attacking system against the Hammers, there’s a big chance for Jarrod Bowen to shine on his return to Yorkshire.

The former Hull attacker has been in fine form for West Ham this season, scoring four goals in 11 Premier League appearances while stats by WhoScored also show that only Michail Antonio [2.6] has averaged more shots per game than him this term [2.5] in David Moyes’ squad.

Bowen, 23, could be the key to unlocking Leeds’ defence on Friday based on how big an influence he has had on the right-wing at West Ham this season.

When you think of the key attributes of a winger, you think about them dribbling the ball forward, crossing the ball into the box and supplying assists or cutting inside and getting shots off at goal themselves.

Stats by WyScout show that Bowen ranks 17th in the Premier League for xG (expected goals) with 3.51. That puts him ahead of Son Heung-min [3.19], Danny Ings [3.11], Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang [3.02] and Marcus Rashford [3.01]. Bowen also ranks joint-11th in the top-flight from shots outside the penalty area [10], adding further proof that he’s the kind of winger who loves to play direct.

And if the Leeds full-backs are caught high up the pitch on Friday, Bowen could be the home side’s worst nightmare under the floodlights at Elland Road.

Bowen’s ability to drag the full-backs out of position from cutting inside is something that Sheffield United were tormented by when they welcomed the Hammers to Bramall Lane last month.

As you can see the image below, while the Irons were pushing forward, Bowen cut inside to the point where he almost looked like a right-sided striker in a front-two in order to receive a pass from Arthur Masuaku.

After receiving the ball, Bowen’s inside run dragged in the Sheffield United left-back, allowing Vladimir Coufal to charge into the box unopposed.

Coufal’s shot hit the target and was saved by Aaron Ramsdale but against a less-experienced goalkeeper like Leeds’ Illan Meslier, a chance like this could be capitalised upon by the Czech right-back or whoever else stands to benefit from Bowen’s play.

Bowen’s also able to create chances by running directly down the right-wing himself with Coufal in support.

As seen below, he and Coufal play a one-two with each other on the halfway line while the ex-Hull man has his back to goal.

Bowen ended up in a situation that didn’t look too advantageous for the West Ham winger.

He was tightly marked by the Blades defender on his lesser-favoured right-foot and on-rushing Coufal was also being tracked.

However, Bowen still managed to use his quick-feet to work cut inside onto his left-foot and have a shot at goal.

Unfortunately for him, his shot was crowded out by the home side’s defence but against an attack-minded team like Leeds who push their full-backs higher up the pitch, there could be more of a scope for Bowen to force Meslier into action.

It’s going to be an exciting game between West Ham and Leeds.

Bowen is one of several players who will be able to cause issues for the home side’s defence at Elland Road on Friday but we’ve been impressed by what we’ve sen from the 23-year-old this season and believe he’s the one to watch in West Yorkshire.

In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie has predicted the score of West Ham’s clash with Leeds.