Leeds United v Middlesbrough: Leeds prepare for Rhodes test as Boro eye top spot

HEAD COACH Steve Evans expects Jordan Rhodes to be unleashed tonight against his Leeds United side at Elland Road.
Middlesbrough's Jordan Rhodes has already scored once at Elland Road this season.Middlesbrough's Jordan Rhodes has already scored once at Elland Road this season.
Middlesbrough's Jordan Rhodes has already scored once at Elland Road this season.

The Scotland international striker has been kept on the bench by Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka since moving to the Riverside on deadline day in a deal that could rise to £12m.

In the second of those brief cameos last Tuesday at Milton Keynes Dons, Rhodes rescued a point with a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser

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Evans was in the crowd at stadium:mk and the Leeds head coach fully expects the former Huddersfield Town forward to be in the starting XI tonight as the Teesside club look to reclaim top spot in the Championship following Hull City’s 2-0 win at Blackburn Rovers over the weekend.

“I guarantee you that he will start,” said Evans. “One hundred per cent, he will make his starting debut. I was at MK Dons and he changed the game.

Boro were struggling a bit and 1-0 down but he came on, went close a couple of times and then scored right at the end. He made a massive difference. So, there is no doubt that he’ll start.”

Rhodes being kept on the bench for his first two outings has mystified Boro fans, not least because of their side’s stuttering form in recent weeks.

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Since beating Derby County on January 2 to move four points clear at the summit, Boro have won just once in five league outings. The club’s sole FA Cup match also ended in defeat, Burnley triumphing 2-1 in the third round at the Riverside.

On a player whose recent move has earned Huddersfield a second cash windfall to go with the £8m banked from his 2012 switch to Blackburn Rovers, Evans added: “Rhodes is not a player who will go past people at pace or produce spectacular goals from long range.

“But he is deadly inside the 18-yard box and there is probably no one better than him in the Championship.”

Rhodes netted on his previous visit to Elland Road with Blackburn last October as United lost 2-0 on a night when fans voiced their displeasure at the running of the club by Massimo Cellino.

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Little has changed on that score, with last week seeing an advert posted on a lamppost outside the East Stand by disaffected supporters.

Legal action from the club, citing “harassment” of the United owner, saw the poster – which read ‘Time to go Massimo’ – quickly withdrawn but the Italian is likely to face further protests on a night when Boro will be backed by 2,850 fans after selling out their ticket allocation.

Leeds, clearly, need an on-field lift after winning just once in the league since Christmas, a run that has ended any faint hopes the club had been harbouring about gatecrashing the play-offs.

“We have had a frustrating spell,” admitted Evans. “It has been a period where the results haven’t been so good, but we can be better than this.

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“Not many people would dispute that Middlesbrough are the best side in the division, but I want a performance which shows that we can go up against that benchmark. I want to see us win every battle.

“I want us to match up to them in every position and show people watching what this team’s really about. I want us to show exactly where we are versus the benchmark because we’re all a bit annoyed about the way things have gone since Christmas.”

With the top six out of Leeds’s reach and third-bottom Rotherham United being 10 points behind Evans’s men, any hopes of rescuing something tangible from this season rests with the FA Cup.

A trip to Watford awaits United in round five on Saturday, a game that Evans wants his men to go into on the back of a morale-boosting victory.

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“We need a performance that we can take with us to Watford,” said the Leeds head coach. “Watford are a quality Premier League side.

“I watched them outplay Chelsea for an hour recently and in a match like this (Saturday’s trip to Vicarage Road) your absolute best sometimes isn’t good enough.

“But if we can match Boro, beat Boro and take that to Vicarage Road with a big away crowd behind us, then it gives us a chance. We are a team who can play. We just haven’t shown it enough.”

Last six games: Leeds United LLWDWL, Middlesbrough LWLLDD.

Referee: C Pawson (South Yorkshire).

Last time: Leeds United 1 Middlesbrough 0; August 16, 2014; Championship.

Owls increase pressure; Tigers back on top: Pages 3 & 4