WHZ Tactics: West Ham capable of exploiting Leeds set-piece weakness on Friday
West Ham’s winning streak came to an abrupt end at the weekend when they were beaten 3-1 by Manchester United but next up for the Irons is an away clash against Leeds United – the perfect opportunity to bounce back to winning ways.
Leeds have left fans and pundits in awe with their swashbuckling style of play under Marcelo Bielsa, who’s seen his side score 16 goals and concede 20 in 11 Premier League matches.
If there’s one thing you can guarantee when Leeds are playing it’s that there are bound to be goals.
According to stats by WyScout, only Liverpool and Chelsea have a higher expected goals tally (xG) than Leeds [20.33] in the Premier League this season and only West Brom have a higher expected goals against (xGA) than the Whites [23.65].
Most of the goals Leeds have conceded have come via dead-ball situations. Stats by WhoScored show that five of their goals against have come from set-pieces and a further four are from penalty kicks.
With Leeds involved in more defensive duels than any other team in the Premier League this season [1,028], it’s pretty obvious that they’re more likely to commit fouls and give away penalties and free-kicks that are in dangerous areas.
How does that benefit West Ham?
David Moyes’ men have headed more shots at goal than any other team in the Premier League this season [27] while also boasting the second-highest cross accuracy in the top-flight [37%].
Only Oli McBurnie [17.95] has been involved in more aerial duels than West Ham forward Sebastien Haller [14.06] per 90 minutes of league football and Haller is set to start against Leeds with Moyes confirming ahead of the trip to Yorkshire that Michail Antonio is a doubt.
Based on Leeds’ weakness at set-pieces and West Ham’s ability to head shots at goal, you would imagine that the Yorkshire club will be in for an aerial bombardment at Elland Road on Friday night.
Leeds are fresh off the back of conceding a headed goal when Kurt Zouma netted for Chelsea in their 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
As you can see from the screenshot below, Zouma was at the back of a three-man queue inside the Leeds penalty area.
When the corner was about to taken, Chelsea’s attackers ran in different directions with Zouma making a bee-line for the edge of the six-yard box.
Leeds’ defence failed to cope with the Chelsea runners, leaving goalkeeper Illan Meslier neither coming out of his goal to win the cross nor staying on his line to defend a shot.
Zouma’s forward momentum allowed him to leap up over the Leeds defenders and power the ball goalwards to hand Chelsea the lead.
While this is just one goal that Leeds have conceded this season, they have followed a similar trend when it comes to defending corners.
If the defenders are forced to think quickly, they lose sight of the ball or their marker and are more likely to concede.
West Ham have some great crossers of the ball in their squad and, as mentioned, Haller can be a force to be reckoned with in the air on his day.
There is more to beating a Bielsa team than simply relying on set-pieces to get goals but there’s no doubt that West Ham will be working extra on attacking corners and free-kicks this week.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie wants Kevin Nolan to work on Sebastien Haller in training.