Leeds United's Jesse Marsch explains why facing Man City's Erling Haaland is a mixed blessing

Elland Road's first top-flight fixture in 58 days on December 28 is one that will arrive with a fair amount of expectation and not just among home followers either.

Haaland is busy counting down the days to December 28. A son of Leeds, whose father Alf-Inge played for the club, the 22-year-old knows it will be no ordinary fixture for him.

Extraordinary is the word to describe Haaland's feats in English football already.

He has fired a staggering 18 league goals since joining City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer and already looks a shoo-in for the Golden Boot.

He became the first player to score nine goals in his first five Premier League games and is the fastest player to register three top-flight hat tricks.

The striker is also the first player to score three consecutive home match hat-tricks in the competition's history, with another first seeing him notch a treble on his Manchester City derby debut.

Haaland is the most talked-about player in the competition and someone who Marsch knows him better than most from their time together at RB Salzburg. Forewarned is forearmed maybe?

The Leeds chief said: "It will help us a little bit, but I think it will motivate him on the day a little bit. It motivates me as well as the time I had with Erling was outstanding. We had an incredible relationship and he fitted into the team so well. It was a special team we had.

"I have some ideas of things we will try to do, but it will come down to luck on the day in certain moments in finding ways to contain him and hoping we can still find a way to punish them as well.

"It will certainly be important for us to manage him on the day. I’ve been many times on how you do that and the answer is just having a keen awareness at all times and where he likes to be. It is his ability to run hard in the box and in transition and his ability to do whatever it takes around the goal to get on the end of plays. His instincts are incredibly unique.”

The game may not have instantly captured the attention of everyone connected with City when the fixtures came out in June, but for Haaland, it was a different matter.

Marsch explained: "Erling texted me as soon as the schedule came out and said that he is the most excited for Boxing Day and I gave him permission to have a small hamstring injury for that match!

"He was born here and his father has history with the club. He has the club in his heart due to that. When I got the job, him and his father were incredibly supportive and excited for me. I expect him to be fully ready and passionate about this match which causes issues for us."

Marsch remains hopeful that a number of players who missed the final friendly with Monaco on Wednesday will be back in training by the end of this week.

Patrick Bamford, Crysencio Summerville, Illan Meslier, Rodrigo, Mateusz Klich, Liam Cooper and Jack Harrison were among those who were not involved.