🏏 Sun, 20 Sep 2026 14:00 BST
Leeds United
vs
Crystal Palace
3-5-2 vs 3-4-2-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Leeds are unbeaten after four matches, sitting sixth on eight points with two wins and two draws. They go into this round on the back of a 4-1 dismantling of Newcastle at Elland Road, with seven scored and only three conceded for a goal difference of plus four. Crystal Palace, by contrast, are 17th on three points from one win and three defeats, having already shipped 11 goals. Leaders Manchester City have 12 points, leaving Leeds only four adrift.
- Three Japan internationals line up at Elland Road. Leeds field 28-year-old Ao Tanaka in central midfield, while Palace name 30-year-old Daichi Kamada in a free role behind the striker and 27-year-old Takehiro Tomiyasu in the back three. Occasions when Japanese players start on opposite sides of the same Premier League fixture are rare, making their individual duels the story of the afternoon.
- Tanaka was named Leeds' Player of the Year for 2024-25 and is the metronome of this midfield. He averages around 90 touches per game with a pass completion rate above 90 per cent, dictating rhythm through sheer involvement. Alongside him are Anton Stach, the 194cm Germany international with more than 250 Bundesliga appearances, and Wales captain Ethan Ampadu, who skippered the club to the Championship title.
- Kamada won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt, moved on via Lazio, and helped Palace lift the FA Cup in 2025. He operates as one of two attacking midfielders in Glasner's 3-4-2-1 alongside Yeremy Pino, the Villarreal-developed Spain international who inherited the number 10 shirt from Eze. His decisive through balls and late runs into the box will test the space behind the Leeds midfield trio.
- Tomiyasu made 84 appearances across four seasons at Arsenal before arriving via Ajax, and at 187cm he offers unusual versatility: a natural right-back who is equally at home at centre-back or in defensive midfield, and comfortable on both feet. Here he forms a back three with Jaydee Canvot, the French defender born in 2006 who came from Toulouse, and USA international Chris Richards, a Bundesliga winner at Bayern Munich.
- With Leeds in a 3-5-2 and Palace in a 3-4-2-1, the wing-back areas will decide who controls the width. Leeds have Sweden international Gabriel Gudmundsson, who reached the Champions League last 16 with Lille, on the left and Jayden Bogle, scorer of six goals with four assists in 2024-25, on the right. Palace counter with academy product Tyrick Mitchell, now past 180 career appearances, and 21-year-old Anan Khalaili, a right-sided specialist who arrived from Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in a record fee for an Israeli player.
- Jorgen Strand Larsen leads the Palace line, the 193cm Norway international who cost a club-record 48 million pounds from Wolves and thrives on aerial duels and hold-up play. He is met by Nico Elvedi, the 189cm Switzerland centre-back with 65 caps and appearances at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and 23-year-old Tarik Muharemovic, a left-footed 192cm defender from the Juventus academy who made 32 Serie A appearances and scored twice for Sassuolo.
- Leeds pair Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the 189cm England forward who spent nine years as Everton's focal point, with Noah Okafor, the Switzerland attacker signed from AC Milan who won a Scudetto on loan at Napoli. Height and running in behind is an awkward combination for a Palace defence that has already conceded 11 times in four games, so Oliver Glasner needs a quick repair job at the back.
- There is a familiar face on the Palace bench. Eddie Nketiah spent time on loan at Leeds during his Arsenal days, where he scored 38 goals in 168 appearances for the Gunners. At 175cm he relies on sharp movement inside the box and a willingness to press from the front, and a late introduction at the ground of his former loan club would be an intriguing twist.
- The goalkeeping matchup is worth watching too. Leeds trust James Trafford, the 192cm Manchester City academy product whose form at Burnley marked him as a candidate to be England's next number one. Palace start Walter Benitez, the 191cm Argentine who won successive Eredivisie titles at PSV and was once voted Ligue 1's goalkeeper of the year, with club captain Dean Henderson absent from the squad entirely.